


The Covenants of Fate

by onthighsbelongtotaemin



Category: SHINee
Genre: Alpha/Omega, Arranged Marriage, Collars, Falling In Love, Light Angst, Mating Bites, Mating Bond, Mating Cycles/In Heat, More tags to follow, Multi, Mystery, Omega Verse, POV Multiple, Soul Bond, Teen Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-03
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-05-01 07:43:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 67,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14515632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onthighsbelongtotaemin/pseuds/onthighsbelongtotaemin
Summary: Who we meet is fate.Who we love is a choice.





	1. Character/Term Introduction

**Author's Note:**

> Finally getting this started! :D

Since I was having such difficult coming up with a summary that included the actual characters, I decided to make the first chapter an introduction to the main characters themselves, and to terms that may be unique to the story itself.  This list is subject to changes as I tend to remember & forget with equal measure.

 

POV Characters:

Jinki: An alpha bonded to omega Minjung and sire to omega Jongin.  He found omega Taemin in the forest when the child was four and brought him home.  Both he and Minjung felt an immediate connection and, within six months, accepted him as their son through a Ceremony of Acceptance.  That same month, he ensures that Taemin has a Covenant, surprised to discover that the alpha child he had chosen is Taemin's soul bond.  He begrudgingly agrees when the child's father insists that there be no ceremony and that they wait until both children are older for them to meet.  Throughout the story, his only intention is that his sons be safe. 

Taemin: An omega found abandoned in the woods and raised in a loving home.  He grows up believing that he has no Covenant, a point that only begins to be of any pain the night he sees Jongin become Minho's Intended.  It is that same night, however, that he meets Kibum, another omega with no covenant. 

Kibum: An omega raised by his grand dam, he is fifteen when he meets Taemin at the Ceremony of Intention of his cousin and closest friend Minho.  He has no Covenant, his grand dam insisting always that he bond for love, and no interest in any alpha he has ever met. 

Jongin: An omega and the eldest son of Jinki and Minjung.  He has known Minho as his soul bond since he was three days old.  Of all the characters, he is the kindest and the sharpest, the one who sees what is happening, but does not speak on it unless someone is being hurt.

Eunsook: An alpha in Covenant with Taemin and his soul bond.  They met once when they were children, he four and she eleven, and she remembers still how he glowed.  When it comes time for her and Taemin to have their own Ceremony of Intention, she chooses not to, instead signing the documents that will make Taemin her Intended. 

Junghee: An omega who bends every social rule to nearly its breaking point, but never quite.  She and Eunsook are friends and a bit more, and she will be there to lend an ear when the story really begins to unfold.

 

Family Terms:

Guardians: Parents/Adults

Sire: Alpha parent

Dam: Omega parent

Appa: Dad

Amma: Mom

Cousin: Anyone not a sibling or guardian

Young: Another term for children

 

Social Terms:

Sir/Ma'am: The formal address of a guardian

-sire/-dam: The informal address of a guardian.  Example: "Jinki-sire"

Elder: Anyone old enough to be a guardian's guardian.

 

Ceremonies:

Ceremony of Acceptance: A ceremony performed when an orphaned omega child has been chosen by a dam and/or sire to be raised as their own.

Ceremony of Rejection: A ceremony performed by a dam and/or sire to withdraw all their rights from their child.  It is a legal abandonment.

Ceremony of Covenant: A ceremony performed when an omega child is put into covenant with an alpha child.  This is often done when they are quite young, usually around two.

Covenant: An agreement between families to have their children be bond mates when the omega child comes of Age.

Ceremony of Intention: A ceremony performed when an omega child in covenant turns 15 years of age.  It is performed on the anniversary of their birth.  At that time, the alpha child in covenant with them declares their agreement to the covenant and they become Intended.  The omega child has no say in the ceremony.

Ceremony of Bonding: A ceremony performed when an omega child in covenant turns 18 years of age.  It is performed on the anniversary of their birth.  At that time, they are given the option to refuse the alpha who presents themselves as a potential mate.  If they do not, the alpha accepts them as such and bites them on the wrist leaving their mark for all to see and passing genetic information that alters the omega's scent and doubles as an identification.  Additionally, a collar is placed on the omega's throat, covering their scent gland and further marking them as a bonded omega.

Ceremonial Hunt: A hunt performed by the community three weeks after the autumn equinox.  It lasts for a week, though participation time is individual. 

Holy day of Mourning: A singular day in early winter to mourn those who have passed.  It is often accompanied by traveling to a burial ground.

 

Bonds:

Familial bond: The bond between a parent & child, siblings, cousins, etc.  This bond can be formed but never broken.  If a Ceremony of Rejection happens it is either because this bond never formed, or because the guardian has done so to protect their young.

Love bond: The bond of romantic love.  The only bond that can be broken by both parties.  If it is, love sickness can last up to a year, often it is six months.

Soul bond: The bond between two souls.  The most common indicator of a soul bond is visual: Each party glows in the other's eye.  A soul bond is rare and has empathic elements.  Additionally, a love bond is virtually guaranteed at the moment of contact.  Once a soul bond sees each other clearly, they cannot be parted from each other.

Mating bond: The bond an omega enjoins to protect themselves from their heats.  If left without an alpha mate, an omega has few rights in society, and faces the uncertainty of finding a trustworthy alpha to get them through their heats.  An omega of Age cannot survive their heats left unattended by an alpha. 

 

Leadership:

Council of the Elders: A select group of elders consisting of both alphas and omegas who serves as a final authority outside of religious matters.

Priestesses: The religious leaders.

Ancients: Those that are worshiped/deified/beseeched through prayer

Avowed: Omegas who have altered their biology to no longer experience heat cycles.  They run the heat houses for the omegas before they are old enough to bond.

 

Locations:

Temple: Where all religious ceremonies are conducted.  Priestesses live on the grounds. 

Heat house: A structure with three wings wherein the young who have not come of age to experience heats, & the youths who will/have begun to experience heats, go during the Seasons.   They are separated at the age of 15 wherein omegas begin their heats.  They are then given drinks that keep them asleep from the afternoons before to the mornings after, and with no memory of what a full heat is like.

Sacred Grounds: A vault-type structure that houses a file of sorts on an individual who has passed.

 

Note:

All omegas who experience heat and alphas who experience rut do so four times a year: once at each solstice and equinox.

 

 


	2. Meeting Taemin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Minjung,” Jinki begins carefully, “if there is no objection, if the priestesses allow it, would you…that is…”
> 
> “Yes,” Minjung answers, “I would. It feels right, doesn’t it? Even though we’ve only just met him. I felt it at the moment I saw him, as though it were fate binding him to us.”
> 
> Jinki chuckles and nods. “I did as well. And even more so when I saw him with you,” he adds, tucking her hair behind an ear. “Then it’s settled. In the morning we’ll learn more about Taemin. And, if it is fate, we will be learning more about the boy who will be our son.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jinki & Onew in the same scene is such a delight.

The moon is full and distinct in the clear blue sky above while to the east the vibrant hues of a setting sun paint the sky crimson and gold.  Jinki stands at the patio of his home, the screen door leading to the kitchen behind him, and breathes in the scent of a fading summer.  Minjung’s bushes are heavy with blossoms and the yard is thick with lush, green grass.  He takes another breath before turning around and heading back inside.

The tiled floors click beneath his footsteps as he enters.  The main door had been left open and he leaves it open still.  Minjung is at the counter with her back to him, busying herself with preparations for a later meal.  The midnight black hair that falls to her waist is fastened tight at the top of her neck, revealing the pale line of skin where a band commonly lies around her throat.

Jinki sneaks his arms around her waist and nuzzles against her neck, inhaling her scent, eyes closed with a smile on his face.  “The moon is full tonight,” he murmurs, “I’d like to take a run through the woods if my mate will allow it.”

“You’re the alpha,” Minjung laughs.  “Are you asking permission to scout the village lands?”  A giggle tickles her throat as Jinki gently turns her around.

“The sun will soon set and I don’t want to leave you and Jongin alone in the dark.” 

Minjung shakes her and sighs at her mate.  “All these years and you still worry.”

“Always,” Jinki murmurs, leaning in and kissing the nose he had only just nuzzled.

“Jongin and I will be fine,” Minjung assures him, her own arms coming up to rest around Jinki’s waist.  “It is mid-summer and everyone is resting.  Take your time and enjoy your run.  A pot of stew and a cup of cool drink will be waiting for you when you return.”  She kisses her mate’s lips and hums when he leans in and kisses her again, longer than the one she had offered.                                                                                              

He leans their foreheads together and whispers, “I love you” with a smile.

“I love you,” she whispers in return.

Their son is playing quietly in the main room, a pile of toys surrounding him creating the impression of an explosion with Jongin at its center.  His hair is tied back in a band and it bounces lightly when he looks up expectantly at the sound of his name and asks eagerly if he can come along when told of where his sire is going.

“No,” Jinki chuckles, glancing at his mate who smiles at their son’s enthusiasm.  “It is late and you need to go to bed soon.  Also,” he continues as Jongin opens his mouth to protest, “you are too young yet.  Four-year-old cubs should not be running around the woods at night.  We will go another day.  When the sun shines.”

“Tomorrow?” Jongin asks hopefully.  Jinki turns again to Minjung who only tilts her head and raises her eyebrows, silently teasing her mate.

“We shall see.  Now,” he continues, turning back to his son, “I would like a hug and a kiss before I go.  When I return you will be asleep and it will be too late then for me to have them.”

Jongin rises hurriedly, a small collection of toys that had been sitting in his lap falling to the floor.  He steps carefully over the others strewn about and opens his arms for his sire, squealing joyfully when he’s scooped up into a strong embrace.  Jinki squeezes his son and peppers his cheeks with kisses.

“I love you,” he declares, looking into his son’s eyes and marveling again at the miracle that is the child in his arms. 

“I love you too, Appa,” Jongin says, grabbing Jinki by the face and giving him a kiss.  He bumps his sire on the forehead and they’re both laughing when he’s placed gently back on the ground.              

The child runs carefully back through the toys and plops down, gathering the ones that had been in his lap back up and returning to play.  Jinki watches from the doorway a few seconds more before turning to Minjung, patting her on the arm, and moving through the house and out the back door.

A handful of chairs, one for each of them and a spare for Minjung’s plants, sit lined up on the paved deck as he passes.  His steps go from firm on the cobbled sidewalk to soft on the grassy lawn to a bit unsteady on the pebbled drive.  The dirt road at the end of the drive leads to the city if he turns right.  Tonight he turns left to head to the woods.

 

The first hour beneath towering firs had passed quickly.  The full moon glows through the branches and what seems to be a thousand stars glitter in the sky above.  The ground is damp and cool beneath Jinki’s paws, his wolf form keeping him warm from a chill breeze in the summer night air.  Everything had been as he expected: Beautiful.

The last ten minutes, though, have caught him by surprise and have had him sniffing the air and following a scent that doesn’t belong in the stillness of the trees: The scent of a lone wolf, a cub at that.  Finally, he hears the faint sound of soft cries, the gentle whimpers of one who is trying to hold back tears.  He follows them both, scent and sound, until he finds a clearing where a small child sits upon an enormous rock with their knees pulled up to their chin. 

A little boy.

An omega.

An enormous bush rustles gently in the breeze just beside him and he can see that the child is shivering.  He is wearing only a pair of shorts and a sleeveless top, feet bare and with hair that brushes his shoulders.  As Jinki begins to draw close, he swallows a bit of rage and fear when he realizes that the child cannot be much more than Jongin’s age.

He stays in wolf form, stepping gently around the bush.  He sends out a sense of calm that the child immediately responds to, turning to him and rubbing his face with the back of a hand.  When he doesn’t run away, Jinki continues toward him, lying down at his feet.

“Hello little one,” he thinks to the child.   “I am Jinki.  Are you lost?”

The child shakes his head and Jinki can see that his eyes are brimming with tears.  They’re rubbed away again by the back of another hand.  “No,” he says quietly.  “I’m Taemin.”

Jinki laughs and sends out more calm when he sees that Taemin becomes upset at his response.

“Do you know where you are, Taemin?” he asks, hoping this time that he has phrased the question better.  To his relief, and to his heartbreak, the boy shakes his head and pulls his knees closer.  “Are you hun-would you like something to eat?  My mate is waiting for me with stew and a cool drink.  You can come with me and have some as well.”

Taemin nods and climbs quickly off the rock, grabbing at Jinki’s fur when he nearly falls over.  “That happens a lot,” he says, “whenever I stand up too fast.  There’s not much to eat in the forest.” 

Jinki only nods.  “Climb on, little one.  I will carry you there.  It’ll be warmer that way, too.”  The eagerness with which Taemin climbs on his back, he a stranger, has Jinki’s heart breaking a little further.

Taemin rides on Jinki’s back beneath the full moon with his small fists clutching at Jinki’s fur.  The wolf form Jinki stays in keeps them both warm as they slowly make their way back to Jinki’s village.  Taemin’s hold tightens as they get closer and they’re in view of lights burning in the dark when the pain becomes too much.  Jinki stops and looks over his shoulder, nuzzling his snout against the child’s cheek.

“Are you alright?” he asks gently.

“No,” is the confused response he’s met with, the child looking down at him with a frown, “I told you, I’m Taemin.” 

Jinki snorts and shakes his head.  “Is there anything you are frightened of?”

“Alphas,” the boy whispers, eyes turning back to the village that lay before them. 

Jinki’s brow furrows, wondering how the boy has not noticed yet.  “I am an alpha,” he says, hoping that the revelation doesn’t scare the child. 

To his relief, Taemin only sits up and frowns.  “You said you were Jinki.” 

Jinki fights the urge to laugh, remembering how Taemin had responded the last time he did.  “Jinki is my name, an alpha is what I am.”

“Oh.”  Taemin seems to ponder the explanation, lost in thought.  Suddenly his eyes begin to brim with tears that are becoming all too familiar and it’s Jinki’s turn to be confused when he’s asked, “Does that mean you’re going to leave me too?”

“What?  No, little one, no.  Remember as I said, we’re going to get food.  And it is very late now so when you get sleepy you can rest.  Then in the morning you can tell me all about your adventure in the forest.”  He nuzzles Taemin’s cheek again and then looks up expectantly, sending out a wave of calm.  To his relief, Taemin nods.  “I do want food.  I am hungry.” 

Jinki’s eyes soften as he teases, “I thought you were Taemin.”

“Taemin’s my name,” Taemin replies quickly, “Hungry is what I am.” 

Jinki chuckles as he begins to walk again.

 

Minjung is waiting for them on the patio when Jinki’s paws touch the cool pebbles that mark his  arrival home.  She nods in understanding even as her eyes widen when she sees the child on Jinki’s back.  He kneels to the ground and Taemin slowly slips off, shyly holding on to a tuft of Jinki’s fur as Minjung steps closer.

“Would you like something to eat?” she asks quietly, holding out a hand.  Taemin looks into Jinki’s wolf eyes before nodding and taking hold of her open hand.

Jinki quickly shifts and joins them, smiling when he sees that Taemin is curled up into Minjung’s embrace and that his mate is feeding the child a bowl of stew that was probably meant for him upon his return.

“There’s more,” Minjung says absently, spooning another bite for Taemin.  Jinki fixes himself a bowl and then takes a seat across from the pair, the wood table worn smooth beneath his palm.  It’s only when he himself begins to eat in the light of the kitchen that he sees just how gaunt and pale the child is.  The stew in front of him grows cool and he hands it over to Minjung when Taemin finishes the one she had been feeding him.

They watch the boy in silence, the occasional look caught by the other full of meaning.  Jinki watches Minjung feed the child they’ve only just met and wonders how it feels as though he were watching his mate feed a son they’d raised from birth. 

Once he has eaten, Taemin’s eyes begin to droop and he curls up even tighter into Minjung’s arms.  She looks at Jinki who wonders how anyone could abandon a child in the woods.  Especially alphas.

“He needs to be bathed and we need to get him into some clean clothes,” he says blankly, suddenly noticing how dirty the child is.  Little things he hadn’t seen in the darkness because he had been too busy pulling the child out into the light.  Now that they’re here, he can see all the details.

“He needs sleep more,” Minjung protests, looking down at the child.  Jinki shakes his head, ending the argument before it can begin.

He takes Taemin into the bathing room and warms a cloth with water.  Care is made to ask the child before anything is cleaned and in the end, he is scrubbed from head to foot, bits of dirt and even a small leaf washed out of his hair.  The clothes he wore are given to Minjung who returns with a pair of Jongin’s sleeping pants, undergarments, and a cotton shirt.  Taemin is nearly asleep by the time he is dressed and completely so by the time he is tucked into the bed they keep for guests. 

Jinki leaves the door open and a pale lamp glowing in case the child wakes in the night.

Minjung waits for him in the hall, arms tight across her waist, eyes wide.  “What happened?!” she whispers tersely, her body vibrating with anxiety.

 Jinki takes her by the elbow and pulls her into their room, sitting them both down on the bed.  “He said that alphas left him.”

“Alphas?” 

Jinki nods and runs a hand through his hair.  “When we got close to the village he became frightened and when I asked why, he said that he was it was alphas.  Minjung, he was alone out there.  There was no other scent for miles: His was the only one.  And you saw him.  He…”  Jinki can’t even finish the sentence, they both know what they saw.  “Of course, I couldn’t leave him there.”

“Of course not,” Minjung answers quickly, head shaking.  “What do we do now?  When he wakes up?”

“We find out more.  He said his name is Taemin and that alphas left him in the woods.  Maybe he can tell us more now that he won’t be hungry and tired and scared.”  There’s a pause in the silence of the house, two little boys sleeping in rooms directly opposite each other while the guardians think.

“Minjung,” Jinki begins carefully, “if there is no objection, if the priestesses allow it, would you…that is…”

“Yes,” Minjung answers, “I would.  It feels right, doesn’t it?  Even though we’ve only just met him.  I felt it at the moment I saw him, as though it were fate binding him to us.” 

Jinki chuckles and nods.  “I did as well.  And even more so when I saw him with you,” he adds, tucking her hair behind an ear.  “Then it’s settled.  In the morning we’ll learn more about Taemin.  And, if it is fate, we will be learning more about the boy who will be our son.”

~

Jinki groans as his body shakes, eyes opening and immediately squinting shut again.  The room glows bright with summer morning sunshine and it’s only the small hands still jostling his shoulders that makes him blink his eyes open against the light.  As his vision slowly clears, Jinki finds himself face to face with his son whose eyes are wide and mouth slightly open.

“Appa!” he whispers urgently.  “There’s a boy in our house!”

“Is he awake?” Jinki asks hoarsely, beginning to sit up.  He pats the bed beside him before looking over and finding it empty with the sheet pushed back in a pile.  With Minjung gone he’s not worried; perhaps she and Taemin are eating together.

“No!” Jongin whispers again.  “He’s sleeping!”

“Ah, that is good,” Jinki says as he turns to drop his feet onto the floor.  Jongin moves so that he’s leaning on the bed with his elbows, hands folded, looking up at his sire as Jinki stretches his arms over his head.  Jinki twists his back and then his neck before taking a deep breath.  He looks down at Jongin and ruffles his hair affectionately.  “We should go have some food while we wait for him to wake.  He had a big adventure yesterday and we should let him rest.”

“Where did he go?!” Jongin cries eagerly as Jinki stands up.  Jinki puts his hand at the back of his son’s head and leads him gently out of the room.

“He’ll tell us when he wakes up.”  The kitchen is empty when they arrive and Jinki frowns briefly before stepping toward the window and looking out.  Minjung’s wide-brimmed hat is barely visible beneath the pane.  He makes his way to the door and steps out onto the patio into the cool of the morning.

“Minj!” he calls, startling her from where she sits kneeling in the grass, gloves caked in dark earth with a pile of weeds poking out of a straw basket beside her.  Her midnight black hair shimmers in the sun when it catches the morning rays, flowing down to the small of her back from beneath her hat.

“You’re up!” she calls back, sitting up.  “I woke early.”  She looks down at the flower bed, a clean row of pastel flowers surrounded by overturned dirt and a growing collection of berry plants.  Looking back at her mate, she smiles, albeit sadly.  “I needed something to do while we waited.”

“What would you like to eat?” Jinki asks, leaning against the door frame, arms crossed.  Mates for eight years and soul bonds for ten, he knows how helpless she feels right now and he wants to hold her and tell her it will be all right.  They don’t know that yet, though, and she won’t want him to until they do.  Instead, he offers what he can, which for now is a meal.

“Oats,” she answers, her smile turning happy, “with fruit.”  Jinki nods and turns back into the house, leaving the main door open and the screen closed.

Jongin is standing at the table when Jinki steps inside, fingers gripping a chair as he stares down the hall.  He turns back quickly when he sees that his sire has returned.

“Amma would like oats and fruit today,” Jinki explains.  “We need to make a lot, too.  Enough for us and for our guest.”

“We have a guest?!” Jongin exclaims, eyes again wide and he sounds so surprised that Jinki nearly bursts out laughing.  “The boy, Jongin.  The one still sleeping.”

“Oh!” his son says, nodding slowly.

“His name is Taemin,” Jinki continues, pulling out a pot and a bowl along with a knife and a towel, “and he was very hungry last night.”  A pile of fruit is put into a colander and he begins to run water over them, rolling them around with his hands.  When he’s finished, he hands them over one by one and lets his son dry them off while he sets fire to the pellets beneath the stove.  “I think he’ll be very hungry this morning as well.”

“Why was he so hungry?” Jongin asks, placing the sixth pear into the nearly full bowl. 

Setting the pot of oats to cook on the stove, Jinki thinks of the innocence of his son before answering.  “His adventure had been very long.  And big adventures make us hungry, don’t you think?”

“That’s true,” Jongin answers, nodding sagely. 

Jinki slices the fruit while the oats cook and does his best to distract his son from further questions with stories of how the moon shone and the way the stars sparkled.  A promised trip by the end of the week has Jongin vibrating with excitement by the time the last pear is chopped.

Minjung joins them just as the oats finish cooking, another few minutes left on an empty burner to cool while Jongin sets the table with four bowls and spoons.  Jinki pulls out a bottle of milk from the cold cupboard, courtesy of their neighbor’s cow, and pours the three of them each a glass.  Minjung is the one to offer a prayer of thanks to the Ancients before they begin their meal, Jongin the one to stare down the hall with every bite.

They’re halfway through their bowls of oats when Taemin emerges bleary eyed, a fist rubbing away sleep and hair that is perfectly coiffed on one side while an absolute mess on the other.

He smiles in familiarity when he sees Jinki and Minjung, but his mouth drops open and his eyes widen in delight at the sight of Jongin whose spoon stops in the air between his bowl and his mouth.  It clatters and a little bit of oat splatters on the table as Jongin drops it and scoots out of his chair to hide behind Minjung, her hand immediately coming up to comb soothingly through his hair.

“Hi!” Taemin says, leaning so that he can see Jongin better where he hides behind his dam.  Jinki can see his shy son immediately tighten up, the excitement of a new boy in his home now overwhelmed at having to actually talk to him.  “I’m Taemin!” 

Jongin glances at Jinki who tilts his chin at his son.  “I’m Jongin,” the little boy replies softly.

“I know!” Taemin says eagerly, stepping forward and leaning the other way so that now he was looking around the back of Minjung and trying to get a better view of the hiding child.  “Jinki told me.” 

At the use of his sire’s name being spoken by a cub, Jongin frowns and leans over, making Taemin lean back the way he had been before.  “Don’t call him that,” he admonishes.

“What?  Jinki?” 

Jongin steps out from his mother’s calming embrace and back behind his chair.  “I told you not to call him that.” 

Now it’s Taemin’s turn to frown, tiny fists on his hips.  “That’s his name,” he argues, “and what he told me to call him.” 

Jongin turns to his sire in shock.  “Appa!” he cries, “he’s young!  Young aren’t supposed to call guardians by their names!”  Jinki looks at Minjung who’s looking at him with a pained expression and shaking her head subtly: This is new territory for them both.

“Normally that is true,” Jinki begins slowly, “but Taemin is a guest and his rules might be different from ours.  Our rules are for us, we don’t force them on other people.  Especially guests.”  Jongin nods and immediately turns back to Taemin.

“Do you call guardians by their first names?”  Taemin looks between the three of them before asking, “What are guardians?”

“The old people,” Jongin answers before either of his parents can think to do so.  Jinki frowns while Minjung muffles a laugh with a quiet cough.  “The very old people are elders.”

Taemin’s brow furrows as he asks, “Do you mean like the council?”  Jongin smiles in relief and throws up his hands.

“Yes!” he cries even as his sire answers, “Perhaps.”  Jinki knows that the same words can occasionally mean different things in different communities and this may be one of those moments.  And he knows that his son does not know that.  “Who is on the council?” 

The way Taemin stiffens and his eyes grow guarded is startling and Jinki knows the answer even before Taemin whispers, “The alphas.”

“Then no, little one,” Jinki says, standing up and pulling Taemin closer so that the child stands beside him as he sits back down and they are now face to face.  “That is not what the elders are.  They are only the very old, the ones who have sired and birthed young and are now the elders of many generations.  They are the ones we go to for guidance.  We have a council of elders, that is what Jongin means, and they are chosen to be our leaders in certain matters.  Guardians are the sires and dams of young.  Minjung and I are Jongin’s guardians.”  He pauses, reluctant to ask.  “Do you know the names of your guardians?” 

Taemin shakes his head quickly.  “We don’t have guardians.  Only the alphas.  Only the council.” 

Jinki frowns.  “No omegas?”  Taemin shakes his head again.  Jinki nods because he has no other answer to that, only more questions, and Taemin is beginning to look scared again.

“Do you like oats?” Jongin asks quietly.  Jinki and Taemin both look over to where Jongin is still standing behind his chair.  He walks around the table and takes the pot in his hand, pulling it toward Taemin’s empty bowl. 

With the spoon in one hand and the handle of the pot in the other, he says, “We made a lot.  Here.”  Jinki watches quietly while his son scoops out three spoonfuls into the empty bowl before putting the spoon back and looking up at Taemin with hopeful eyes.

“I don’t know,” Taemin answers, “I’ve never tried it.”

“Appa made it.  I think it’s good,” Jongin says firmly, head nodding, “and there’s also fruit.  And milk.  And I can make a sandwich if you don’t like it.”  Jinki looks over at Minjung who’s watching their son softly with a hand covering her mouth.  Taemin slips away, taking his seat and a tentative bite.  Within minutes, the boys are laughing while Taemin quickly finishes the bowl of oats.

They let the boys run around in the yard after Taemin finishes eating.  Shouts and shrieks come in bursts through the open door.  Jinki stands at the window and watches with Minjung who rests her head on his shoulder and his arms around her waist.

“He looks happy, healthy,” she starts, “why would they leave him behind?”

“Maybe it’s because he’s an omega,” Jinki answers quietly.  The thought had crossed his mind when Taemin said there were no omegas on the council.  Minjung stiffens in his arms and he holds her tighter.  It wouldn’t be the first time such a thing had happened.  But to have it happen to one so young…

“If that’s true, he needs to stay here with us.  We need to protect him.” 

Jinki turns his head and kisses his mate’s temple, leaning his forehead against her hair and breathing in her scent.  He lets his arms slip away and she stands up, still standing at the window watching the boys.  He stops halfway to the door and turns back to look at her.  “I need you to keep Jongin busy while I talk to Taemin.  He’ll want to listen and I don’t want him there in case…”  Minjung bites her lip and nods, arms coming up to cross at her waist before turning back to the little boys running around the yard.

The screen door opens wide and Jinki leans out into the summer sun to call to them.  “Jongin!  Taemin!  Come inside now!” 

Jongin begins to run even as Taemin stops and calls out a confused “Why?”  Jinki’s ready to explain but is stopped when his son turns around, fists pressed against slim hips.

“Because Appa said so!” he cries in a tone that brokers no arguments.  Taemin huffs before quickly following behind.

Soon they’re back inside with raspy breaths and pink cheeks.  Minjung forces a smile as she reaches out a hand for Jongin and it’s clear to both of the children that something is wrong.  Jongin looks back at Taemin sadly as he’s led away, waving over his shoulder as his dam takes him back outside, closing the door behind them both.  Taemin waves back weakly before slowly looking up at Jinki with eyes that begin to glisten.

“They’ll be back, little one,” Jinki says encouragingly, taking Taemin by the shoulder and leading him down the hall toward the family room.  Jongin’s toys are there, and plenty of sunlight.  It’s bright and cheery, and he hopes that the blend of the two, along with the quiet of the house, will give Taemin enough comfort to feel free to talk.

There’s a hearth just inside the door with a wooden trunk beside it.  A picture window glows bright across the room and a dark red sofa sits beneath it.  Jinki points out the wooden trunk filled with Jongin’s toys.

“You can play with any of them.  They’re Jongin’s, but he knows to share.”  Taemin nods but doesn’t make a move to take any, doesn’t even sit down.  He’s standing near the doorway and looks ready to run.

Jinki takes a seat on the sofa beneath the window and chews on his lip.  He leans forward, elbows on his knees and hands folded as if in prayer.  He smiles as he says, “Tell me about your adventures in the woods.”  To his surprise, Taemin’s lip begins to quiver.

“You said you wouldn’t leave me there.” 

Jinki steps up and Taemin takes a step back.  Jinki takes a step back of his own, both hands raised in easy surrender.  “No, no Taemin. No.  I only wanted to know how you got there.  I would never leave you there, I swear.”  He sits back down again, nodding.  “You’re safe here.”

Taemin begins to nod too as he takes a shuddering breath.  He glances down at the open trunk and pulls out a pair of horses.  They begin galloping across the floor as he sits down before the hearth.  Jinki watches quietly while Taemin plays, wondering if he should even ask more questions, yet knowing that he needs to.

“Do you know how long you were in the woods?”  The horses stop moving and he can see Taemin’s fingers turning red from holding them tightly.

“No.  Only…”

“Yes?” Jinki prods.  Taemin looks at him sadly as he says, “The moon grew big while I waited.”

“Very big?”  The child shrugs and turns back to his horses, moving them again though slowly.  “Where is your home, little one?”  Taemin doesn’t look up, eyes focused on the horses.

“What is a home?” 

Jinki thinks, puffing out his cheeks.  “The house you lived in.”

“What is a house?”

“This,” Jinki answers, waving around the room.  Taemin looks up and looks around.  “We didn’t have a house,” he answers, turning back to the horses.  Abruptly, he drops them and turns to the trunk, digging out a few more animals and a pair of dolls.

“What did you sleep in?” Jinki asks, growing confused.  “At night?”

“I don’t know what they’re called,” Taemin answers absently.  “We put them up with poles and took them down again when we moved.” 

“You lived many places?”  Taemin shrugs non-committedly.  In absence of a response, Jinki watches Taemin at play and thinks.  He’s small, thin, a similar build to his own son but in some ways a bit more delicate.  Nothing distinct about him, nothing remarkable other than that he was an omega.  And even that wasn’t remarkable.  “Do you know how many birth anniversaries you have celebrated, little one?” 

At that, Taemin shoots up onto his knees, the toys in his hands dropped to the ground and he proudly holds up four fingers.  “This moon cycle was my fourth!” he answers excitedly. 

“Oh!” Jinki says in surprise.  “Congratulations.”  Taemin nods proudly before picking the toys back up and beginning again to play.  Jinki watches and thinks of how it must be fate that an omega child his son’s age has crossed their paths.  “Taemin?”

“Hmm?” the boy answers, eyes still on the horses.

“Would you like to stay here?”  Taemin freezes and Jinki’s chest aches at the hope in the little boy’s eyes when he finally looks up.

“To live?  Like a home?”

“Yes,” Jinki says with a smile, “like a home.”

Taemin nods and carefully replies, “Yes”, grasping tentatively at the life Jinki is offering him.

“We would like you to stay here, too,” he says, “and we are going to do everything we can to make sure that you can.”  He grunts as the little boy jumps into his lap, arms gripping his neck so tightly that he has difficulty breathing.  It’s no surprise to him that Taemin is shaking, and he holds the child tightly and closes his eyes with faith that fate is on their side.

Jinki holds Taemin and rocks him for a little bit, promises again that he will be safe.  He asks a few more questions, mostly dull ones like the types of food Taemin likes to eat, nodding in agreement when the boy reveals that he likes most anything except cucumbers.

After a time, Taemin asks if he can play again with Jongin, already standing and nearly to the door.

“Of course,” Jinki answers, immediately finding himself alone in the room with the sound of bare feet pattering down the hall.  “Taemin!” he calls loudly, the pattering abruptly stopping and then growing louder as they come closer.  Taemin’s eyes are wide when he steps back in the doorway and he holds both hands tightly together at his waist.

“Yes?”

“The toys,” Jinki says, pointing to the scattered mess on the floor, “they need to be put back in the box.”  Taemin looks down and then over his shoulder, obviously fighting the urge to leave both the toys and Jinki behind in favor of finding his new friend again.  Quickly he turns back and falls to his knees, grabbing each piece at random and throwing them haphazardly into the chest.  Much like Jongin, Jinki thinks.  As soon as he’s done, he hurries toward the door, pausing at the threshold to quickly ask, “Now?”

“Now,” Jinki confirms with a nod and a laugh, listening as the footsteps again patter down the hall.  It’s not until the back door bangs open and he can hear voices rise from outside that he realizes that Taemin is still wearing sleep clothes.  He sighs and closes his eyes at the thought, knowing that Minjung won’t mind.

When he joins them all outside, Jongin is roaring while chasing Taemin with a garden hose and the other child is shrieking in delight as he rapidly grows soaking wet.  Minjung sits on the patio with her gardening hat still on, and she raises a hand to her shoulder when she feels his palm rest there.

The boys are careful to keep away from her garden at the side of the yard and the flower beds that sit tucked between the pathway to the drive and the house.   Only the floral bushes and the grass itself will suffer their watery play and both are hearty enough to survive it.  Jinki is only glad that no wash hangs on the clothes lines and that the boys are still too short to be harmed by the tight cords.

“They’re so happy together,” Minjung says quietly, almost in awe, “I’ve never seen Jongin at ease like this with anyone other than Minho.”  Jinki chuckles and sits down beside her.

“Do you think he is Jongin’s soul bond as well?” 

Minjung glances at him and laughs before turning her attention back to the children.  Taemin has control of the water hose now and it’s Jongin who shrieks as he dashes across the yard away from the spray.

“Of course not.  One soul, one soul bond.  And besides, they’re both omegas.  No, I think it’s just…”

“Fate.” 

Minjung looks over at her mate and then back at the boys.  “Maybe,” she says, watching her son and the little boy who is stranger yet doesn’t seem to be one at play.

“Either way,” Jinki continues, “we need to consult the council.  They’ll know what to do.  Obviously, Jongin cannot come with us, nor can Taemin.”  He chuckles.  “It will be a chance for Taemin to meet Minho.  We can see just how well he fits into our little family.”  Minjung laughs at that, reaching out to tap Jinki’s arm.

“Jongin will love that,” she says lightly, “He already believes Taemin to be a gift from the Ancients.” 

Jinki snorts in surprise.  “What?”

“Yes.”  Turning back to the boys, she sighs.  “He told me so when we waited for you to finish speaking.  A surprise gift since he was in the woods.  And now he’ll get to share him with Minho.”  Jinki doesn’t answer, only wonders at his son and how easily he sees the good in people, despite so often being shy of them.

The boys are bathed, Taemin having watched in wonderment as the water filled up the claw-footed tub.  More than once he had run his hand beneath the running hot water and then held it up before his face to stare at the droplets.  Jinki doesn’t quite understand his fascination as he had already seen running water in the yard.  But he doesn’t question it and instead let Jongin do most of the leading during their bath.  Another moment of wonderment came when Jongin was instructed to brush his teeth and Taemin was handed a spare toothbrush that he only stared at.  Again, Jongin was allowed to lead his friend through a new experience.

Now they stand at the back door, Jongin vibrating with excitement as he holds Taemin’s hand and tells him about how wonderful Minho is and how much fun they will have.  Taemin looks less sure and Jinki thinks it’s because it probably never occurred to him that he would have to share his new friend, certainly less than a day after meeting him.

They’re waiting on Minjung who is hurrying from the back, her black mating bond collar now fastened around her neck and her hair pulled modestly back.  Despite the heat, her top has sleeves that fall halfway down her forearms, highlighting the bite mark on her left wrist.  The boys, in contrast, wear shorts and sleeveless tops.  Jinki himself is dressed similarly to Minjung, modesty in favor of comfort as a show of respect to the council of elders.  

“Wait, wait,” Minjung mutters, rifling through a bag slung across her chest.  She pulls out a touchpad and holds out the lit screen.  “Taemin, I need you to press your hand to this for me.”

“What is it?” Taemin asks even as he steps forward, Jongin still holding his hand.

“A palm reader,” she says as she presses her hand over the back of his and waits for the beep to signify that his print has been read.  When it’s finished, she ruffles his hair and puts the pad back in the bag.  “That will help the council make their decision.”

“How?”  Minjung looks over at Jinki who sighs at the one and only reason Taemin might not be able to stay.

“If you are lost, little one,” he says softly, “because you were stolen, the ones you were taken from may want you back.  And if that has happened it needs to be known before we can make a bond with you.  But,” he adds quickly, seeing the slow panic fill Taemin and Jongin’s eyes, “not to the alphas.  Never to the alpha’s.  The council will be told what they did.”  Jongin nods and squeezes Taemin’s hand, leans over and whispers something into his friend’s ear that has Taemin nodding too.

“Good.”

“Are you ready?” Jinki asks, chin tilting toward the door.

“No,” Taemin says, shaking his head.  “What’s a bond?”

Motor vehicles are another new experience for Taemin and Jinki’s not sure how much of his explanation about the different kind of bonds there are that the child actually hears.  He knows that Jongin will do his best to explain once he and Minjung are gone.  And soul bonds, too, since his son has had the unique experience of knowing his for the last four and a half years; since he was three days old and Minho only two years.

Minho stands between his parents when they pull into the drive, grinning when he sees Jongin step out of the car.  The two fly to each other, gripping tight as though they have not seen each other in years when in truth it has only been three days.  Taemin steps out of the vehicle timidly, eyes widening in what is becoming a familiar fashion and in this moment Jinki truly understands his awe.

Minho’s family is one of the wealthiest he knows and they do not live in the village.  They live in a small city just outside of the village and they do so in a home that has three stories, a tennis court, a basketball court, a swimming pool, and easy access to a stable.  He knows that if they chose to they could live in an even more opulent dwelling, but that they stay where they are in part so that Minho can be near Jongin.  Their elder son stands back and bows when he sees Minjung step around the car.  Always good manners, Jinki thinks proudly. 

Minho follows suit once he and Jongin let go of each other, nodding to Jinki.  His attention then turns to Taemin who is still staring up at the highest windows of the house and who jumps when Minho’s friendly “Hi!” shakes him out of his reverie.

“Hi,” he says, suddenly the shy one.  There’s no one for him to hide behind, though, but he doesn’t have to because soon Jongin is linking their arms and telling Minho that Taemin is his new friend.

Jinki waves to his mate’s cousins and waits as Minho’s sire and Minjung hug their farewells.  They too saw each other only three days ago. 

The ride to the council is quiet with Minjung chewing on her lip and absently tapping at Jinki’s hip with her finger.  A call had been made before they left, a wrinkled face watching in surprise from the communication pad as Jinki outlined the story of how he had found the lone omega cub out in the woods, and how the omega cub had said he came to be there.

“This is most unusual,” the elder alpha had said, face poking out of a pearl gray habit.  “Yes, you should come in at once.”  Now at the council chambers, Jinki holds Minjung’s hand tightly and waits for the elders to call them in. 

“There have been no reports of a lost cub and he fits no description of any neighboring clans,” the alpha from earlier declares.  “And the palm print provided has led to nothing.  The elders have determined that six months must be allowed to pass between the date of his finding and that wherein an official claim may be made.  At that time a Ceremony of Acceptance may be held.” 

Jinki squeezes Minjung’s hand and nods.  “We look forward to that day.”

On the ride back to pick up the boys, Minjung chuckles and pats at Jinki’s hip.  “Six months.  Six days after the anniversary of Jongin’s birth.  Less than a week.  He truly is a gift from the Ancients.”

Days turn into weeks which turn into months.  A handful of Jongin’s old clothes are mixed into a pile of new ones bought just for Taemin, a few new toys in the wooden chest, though it doesn’t matter as the boys share everything equally.  Including the sickness that keeps them curled up in bed together with matching fevers for nearly a week.  The heat of summer cools into autumn and the extra plate at the table, the extra mouth to feed, the extra hands to help clean up the mess they’ve helped make are all welcome and familiar, the previous absence of which already is forgotten.  Soon the yard is full of snow and a pair of boys who chase each other with balls that splatter into icy white puffs.  A new bed is put into an old room, one left empty for more than six years when Taemin arrived on Jinki’s back.

They never speak of the first cub born to them, he and Minjung, the one fate sought fit to slip out of their lives when they had only just felt the warmth of his body in their arms.  Another little boy, an alpha who would have carried on the name of Jinki’s clan if he had lived and bonded and had sired young.  None of it happened, no list of descendants to add to the newborn’s name.  Only a date of a birth and a date of a death that were nearly the same.

Occasionally, Jinki will catch Minjung watching closely the youth born the same season as that of their firstborn, a hand at her collar with the other wrapped tight around her waist and resting on her hip.  She watches them as though she were a scientist observing another species in their natural habitat: They belong to the same planet but not to the same world.  The marked knowledge that these children live while hers has died is not something she will speak of, but she will think of it and watch them when she thinks her mate is not looking.

And he tries not to look, tries to give her that little bit of quiet she needs to be alone in her grief.  Even on the Holy Day of Mourning.  Even though it means fighting every urge he has as a mate and as an alpha to protect her.  Protection is what he’s meant to give her but he can only do so if he leaves her to mourn in silence.  He does so against his nature because his bond with her is both of mating and of love and he would endure any suffering if it meant that she would have even a bit of peace. 

Now they have two cubs again, two boys who are both omegas and who have been calling themselves ‘brothers’ almost as soon as they met.  They want him to stay.  They didn’t either of them realize how much they both wanted him to stay until he arrived.  A surprise, one they didn’t even know they wanted until he was received.   

Tonight, Jinki watches from the doorway of the main room while a fire crackles behind a mesh screen and two little boys play on the ground.  It is the anniversary of Jongin’s birth, a day they had counted down to with eager anticipation for nearly six months.  Less than a week sits between this night and when they will perform the Ceremony of Acceptance and Taemin too will become their son.   

Which means that Jinki must now find him an alpha to covenant with.

A covenant for Jongin had been settled within days of his birth when two-year-old Minho had asked why little newborn Jongin glowed.  It was a pairing made easier by Minho’s sire being a cousin to Minjung.

As Jongin grew, every visit with Minho was met with delight: Giggles and kicking feet when a baby, happy cries of “Minnow!” when he began to toddle and talk.  And when he was two he had looked up at his sire, brows furrowed and asked, “Appa, why aren’t you and Amma shiny?  Why is it only Minho?”  Jinki had only chuckled and ruffled his son’s hair, doing his best to explain soul bonds to a little boy who still rode in a car seat during trips to town.  Now Jongin was five and would have a Ceremony of Intention in ten years.  Three years after that he would be bonded to Minho and then…

Jinki sighs, watching his little boy playing on the ground and already wishing he could turn back time to when he was even smaller.

“What are you thinking?” Minjung asks, arms wrapping around her mate’s waist and head resting on his shoulder. 

“That our son is growing up far too quickly.  And that we will need to find an alpha for Taemin to covenant with.” 

Minjung hums and Jinki puts his hands over the ones she has at his waist.  “We were lucky,” she says softly, “that it was Minho.”

“It was already going to be Minho,” Jinki points out.

“Yes.  But it might not have been.  And for that we were lucky.  It will be harder with Taemin.”

“Maybe,” Jinki concedes, “though maybe not.  What do you think of Eunsook?”

“Oh!” Minjung’s arms pull away and she steps in front of Jinki, eyes shining and smile bright.  “Of course!  Why didn’t I think of her?”

“Because her parents are rebellious.”  Jinki takes her hand and tugs her close, slipping an arm around her shoulders.  “They’ve softened these years, though.  Especially since Sunyoung…”  He stops and Minjung places a hand at his chest, his regret thumping beneath her fingers for bringing up sorrow on a day of celebration.  “Well, in any case, I think we should at least ask and see if they would be willing to let the children meet.” 

Minjung nods quietly.  “Jongin will be bonded soon,” she says softly, her voice wistful.

“I know,” Jinki replies, his heart agreeing even as his mind argues that thirteen years is still a long time to have their child in the home.  _Not e-nough_ , his heart beats.  _Not e-nough_. 

“Before that the Ceremony of Intention.”

“Yes.”

“And then the heat houses.” 

Jinki nods and tugs Minjung closer.  The thought of his son entering a cycle of heats is too much.  Knowing that he will be taken care of, that an alpha will be waiting to care for him is a relief, but it is still too much to think of while he watches him still a five-year-old at play with dolls and trucks and toy animals.

“We should take them to evening meal.  They must be hungry by now.  They are always hungry.”

“Let them play a little longer,” Minjung requests, voice soft.  “I want to remember this.” 

Jinki nods and turns to kiss his mate on the forehead, turning back and watching the boys at play.

Jinki invites every member of the village to the Ceremony of Acceptance, and the temple is full of familiar faces when he and Minjung take their places at the altar.  Jongin holds Taemin’s hand as his parents recite the ancient vows.  Taemin watches them both adoringly and it is by Jinki’s own hand that the boy’s temples are blessed with green paste. 

“Congratulations,” the priestess says warmly, “you are now the guardians of an omega child.  Another one,” she adds quickly when both boys turn to her with identical frowns.  When they step off of the altar it as a family bonded by ceremony, acknowledged by the community and bound by the customs of their faith.  More than that, they share a familial bond, one that more than once has Taemin rubbing his chest in wonder, a sight that warms Jinki’s heart.

That same night he sends word to his cousin.

Winter means that Onew will no longer be working in the fields and will have time to travel.  Sunyoung’s recent illness, however, may keep him at home which means that it may be up to Jinki to bring Taemin to meet Eunsook.  Jinki spends the days waiting for a response, wishing his cousin would rely less on paper and more on screens: He would like to see his face rather than read his words.  A letter arrives a week later with a promise of his cousins’ arrival a week after that. 

“We should prepare the room for them as guests, just in case,” Minjung says anxiously, wringing her hands.  “It would be nice if they stayed awhile.” 

Jinki shakes his head.  “The letter said they could only visit for a day.  My cousin makes it clear in the letter that he is only coming because Sunyoung insists.  Since it will just be him with Eunsook, you know that he will not stay long.” 

Minjung’s hand raises to her collar and the other grips at Jinki’s shirt as she takes a shaky breath.  “I’ll prepare the room anyway.  Just to be sure.  The roads are rough this time of year and he may choose to keep warm and safe rather than travel through them.” 

Jinki swallows back the argument that his cousin lives in the country on a thousand acres of land that holds everything from woods to a river to a thriving farm from which he makes his living.  A bit of snow on the roads for such a man is of no consequence.  He leaves it alone and watches Minjung move down the hall and disappear inside the room they keep for guests.

The one, he remembers suddenly, that Taemin spent his first night with them in.

The next morning finds him alone with Jongin.  Taemin had suddenly taken ill the night before, though Jongin showed no signs of illness.  Minjung had stayed up with him and is with him now.  The last time he had checked on them they were sleeping.  Minjung had laid down between Taemin and the wall with one arm out as a makeshift pillow for their son and the other holding him by the waist.  One of his hands held her fingers and the other clutched a dark brown bear.

Jongin is fine, playing at the hearth with a pair of dolls in contrasting aqua blue and blossom pink dresses.  A fire warms the room in anticipation for their guests’ arrival.  Jinki watches until he hears the sound of a vehicle approaching on their road.

There is a rush of cold air when he opens the back door, and he steps out alone to greet his cousins when they pull up the drive, snow crunching beneath their tires and glistening in the yard, punctuated throughout with the deep holes of the footprints of children.

“Onew!” Jinki calls in the chill air, his breath puffing out in a cloud.  His cousin smiles as he steps around his truck, a dark gray vehicle more than strong enough to make it through the winter roads.  A little girl jumps down from the other side and closes her door with both hands, pausing before looking over at Jinki.  Long, ebony hair flows loose over her shoulders beneath a knit cap that matches a scarf bundled at her neck hiding half of her face and the pair of mittens hugging her fisted hands. 

She is much older than his child, eleven already, but underneath all the protections against the cold she looks very small.  He thinks it unfair that someone as young as she must endure what she is enduring now.  And he hopes that meeting his sons will brighten at least her day.

“Eunsook, this is Jinki-sire,” he hears his cousin say.  His hand is at his daughter’s back and she nods politely, only her eyes showing.

“Come inside, both of you,” Jinki admonishes, waving them in.  “Let us get you sat before the warmth of a fire.”

Onew laughs heartily and makes a teasing remark about Jinki’s life as a dweller of the city making him soft.  Jinki only shakes his head and accepts the tease of the elder cousin, knowing that even his little village would be considered “city” by Onew’s standards: Anything with even a single paved road is.

He brings them warm slippers to put on their feet once they step out of their boots, and the rack of hooks by the door is soon covered with their coats and Eunsook’s scarf and hat, mittens tucked into her coat pockets.  Without them, she seems even smaller, burying her fists into the pockets of her sweater and chewing on her lip.

“Jongin is in the main room playing, Eunsook,” Jinki says with a smile.  “Let’s go there and you can join him.”

“What of Taemin?” Onew interrupts.  “Or Minjung?  Where is my favorite cousin?”

“He came down with a fever last night and Minjung has been attending to him.  I’m hoping that he will wake up long enough for the children to speak.  This,” he says pointedly, “is why it is wise to invest in screens.”  Onew scoffs and begins marching down the hall. 

Jongin looks up, his eyes widening at the sight of his sire’s cousin.  They weren’t much different in appearance, the pair, but Onew was definitely more intimidating.  While Jinki had a quiet air of authority, Onew was brash and loud, a noisy personality punctuated by hair that was on the longer side, like an omega newly bonded.

The child’s hair is ruffled by stubby fingers as Onew walks by, crashing down on the sofa beneath the window.  Then Eunsook steps in, looking down at the toys he’s playing with and frowning.  The fire crackles loudly in the room while Jongin’s hair is again ruffled, this time by his sire, and he watches as Jinki joins Onew on the sofa.

“This is Eunsook, Jongin.  And Onew-sire.  They came to visit Taemin, remember?”

“Taemin’s sick,” Jongin tells Onew sadly as he bows his head in greeting.  Turning to Eunsook he adds, “His food didn’t stay in his belly.”  Eunsook nods silently.

Suddenly a door in the hallway opens up.  Jinki rises and hurries quickly to see what is happening.  He returns a moment later with a bleary-eyed Taemin in his arms, stuffed bear still clutched in one hand while the other rubs at his face.

“He heard voices and wanted to say ‘Hello’.  I don’t think he’ll be awake for long, however.  Minjung says it’s nearly time for another dose of medication and it seems to make him sleepy.”

“Wanna play,” Taemin mumbles, burrowing his head in Jinki’s shoulder.

“I know, little one.  Later, when you’re well again.  For now, you need to rest.  And to keep away from our guests so that you do not make them sick as well.”  Taemin nods and tries sitting up again, blinking heavily.  He looks over at Onew sitting on the sofa and nods in greeting, nearly tipping over in the process.  When he sees Eunsook he smiles tiredly, murmuring, “Shiny” before he nods again, recognizing that she’s an alpha but not realizing that he doesn’t need to greet one so young as though she were a guardian.

Jinki chuckles as he catches Taemin’s second near fall and quickly explains that he’ll take Taemin back to his dam for further care.  Minjung is still in the bed and he lays Taemin down beside her.  He watches as she feeds the little boy medicine, running a hand through her hair as he surreptitiously checks for a fever.  Only warm.

When he steps back into the hall, he starts, surprised both by Eunsook waiting for him and by her appearance. 

The eleven-year-old’s cheeks are flushed and her breaths are low.  Her eyes are half-shifted, narrow pupils against a pale green iris.

“Why does he glow?” she asks curiously.  Jinki looks over to the doorway of the main room where Onew stands with his arms crossed.  Jongin is still playing on the floor, unbothered by the scene playing out only feet away.  Onew’s jaw clenches and there’s’ an unnatural steadiness to his gaze, a mask he is putting on for his daughter.

“Perhaps it was the light,” he says. 

Jinki looks down at Eunsook who is now staring at the door.  “Yes,” he adds slowly, “It was probably the light.” 

Eunsook looks up at him and he takes a protective step between her and the door behind which his mate and their youngest lie helpless.  Her eyes are still unnatural, the green brighter than he remembered, and there’s a fervency there that he finds unnerving.

Suddenly there’s a calm washing through the hallway and he looks over to see that Onew’s eyes glow as well, a controlled shift unlike his daughter.  They’re speaking through thought, or rather Onew is and Eunsook is passively listening, her eyes again at the door.  Slowly, the flush leaves her cheeks and the green of her eyes turns back to a deep brown.

“Yes,” she says out loud.  After a long pause, Eunsook turns to her sire and asks if she may be allowed outside.

“Of course,” he answers quickly, “be sure to be warm above all things.  And stay where you can be heard.”  She nods and begins heading toward where her coat hangs near the door.

“You are not worried for her to be alone after that?” Jinki whispers incredulously.

“No,” Onew answers quickly, holding Jinki by the arm and watching his daughter bundle up.  It is only when she is outside that he tilts his head toward the kitchen table and, with one last look at his son still quietly at play, Jinki follows his cousin down the hall.

Onew’s fingers grip the back of an empty chair and he takes a deep breath, staring at the wood of the table.  Jinki’s own fingers tighten into fists as his arms cross against his chest.  The scene from just moments ago plays again and again in his mind: He’d never seen a child in a state such as the one in which he saw Eunsook.  It can only mean one thing.

“How is this possible?” his cousin finally asks.  Jinki shakes his head in his own confusion.

“I do not know.”

“Where did you find him?”

“The woods, as I said.  The ones near the pearlescent lake.  We have already gone through all of this with the council of elders.”  Onew scoffs but it is only half-hearted: Even he believes in their judgment. 

“Then he bears no relation to us.” 

Jinki bristles immediately.  “None by blood, no.”

“Forgive me,” Onew murmurs, “that is all I meant.”  He takes a heavy breath, eyes still cast on the table.  “I have never seen my daughter in that state before, Jinki.  I was barely able to calm her.”  He looks up then, eyes wary.  “Eunsook will be in covenant with Taemin.  Fate has determined as much.  When the time comes for them to enjoy a Ceremony of Intention, she will be of age and all decisions will be hers to make.  After what we have just seen, however, there is no doubt that she will agree and that they will be bonded when Taemin comes of age.  They must, after all.”

“Then you agree that they are soul bonds?”

“Of course.  And that is why there will be no Ceremony of Covenant.” 

Jinki’s arms fall to his sides and his mouth drops open.  “I don’t understand.”

“The covenant is agreed to.  Their souls are already bonded.  There is no need for more.”

“The Ceremony,” Jinki points out, “is tradition.  They need it.”

“Do they?  We’re talking about children who are still years away from a Ceremony of Intention.  A decade before Taemin even begins experiencing heats.  What do they have in common at this age?  He is only four, Jinki.  She is eleven.  What are they to do in the hours you suggest they spend together?”

“Taemin still needs to know Eunsook,” Jinki argues, “and Eunsook needs to know Taemin.  Certainly, more than just one visit.  As much as we are able to, we should keep the children together and allow them to learn of each other.” 

Onew squeezes his eyes close and shakes his head.  “Jinki, there is still much time before our children begin their cycles and need each other.”

“’Need’?” Jinki repeats incredulously.  “Is that what you think their bond should be based on?” 

“That is what a soul bond demands, it is a force.  They must mate with each other or else they die.”

“It can be more, cousin.  Minjung and I were covenanted as children but we developed a love bond as youths.  And you and Sunyoung did the same, despite never being covenanted.”

“Jinki-”

“Onew, they need-”

“I will not,” Onew bites out, startling Jinki, “while Eunsook is still a child, demand that she spends any of these precious moments of her youth tied to a bond that is not one that she cultivated out of will, out of choice.  I will not take that bit of freedom from her.  Life is already taking too much from her now.”  The last sentence is bit out, emphasized with an open hand slamming against the back of a chair.  “Fate is already demanding too high a price from my little girl!”  

At the outburst, Jinki fights the urge to step back and instead merely blinks.  On that point he and his cousin agree most certainly, and as long as he is assured that in the future his son will be secure then he will argue no further with a man from whom fate is also exacting too high a price.

“Of course,” he demurs with a small bow.  “Forgive me cousin.  As one sire to another, I know you understand my feelings for one’s child and I trust that you will forgive me.”

“Family always forgives,” Onew answers quickly.  There’s another clench of his jaw before he sighs.  “And it was I who transgressed.  I should not have yelled.”

“Yes, you should,” Jinki says quickly, “it is only right.  Fate is not always kind.  I think, though, that at least in this case we are being given a gift.  We already know each other, the family my son will become a part of.  I know that he will be well cared for if Eunsook is anything like her dam.”  

Onew chuckles at the light tease, an almost insult to himself that is in truth high praise of his beloved mate.  “Sunyoung is training her now,” he says softly, “while she still can.  Everything Eunsook will need to know to be a bonded alpha.”  He licks his lips and walks to the window to look out at the yard.  Jinki follows and finds that Eunsook is building a fortress out of snow.  He blinks twice, startled by how intricate her design is.  “It’s good, isn’t it?” Onew asks with pride.

“It’s incredible.”

“Her designs are even better.  I think this will be her future.  Designing and creating structures.”

“If she is this good now with snow, I can only imagine how well she will do with proper material once she’s of age.”

“If she does continue, there is an alpha who has already offered to apprentice her.  She was friends with Sunyoung when they were very little and still holds great affection for her now.  I at first thought it was such affection that had her singing such praises for my little one.  After seeing her designs, however, and comparing them with Eunsook’s, I think now that my daughter truly does have talent.  More than just that as seen through the eyes of a sire,” he adds with a smile.

“I look forward to watching her talents grow.  Perhaps the children will live in a home of her own design.”  Onew chuckles.

“If Eunsook designs the home she will also build it.  I cannot imagine her settling for anyone else’s hands constructing where she sleeps.”

Jinki laughs and they watch quietly as the fortress grows until Jongin joins them in the kitchen and shyly reveals that he is hungry. 

Eunsook and Onew stay another hour after finishing a meal of stew and bread.  Onew keeps her away from Taemin’s door and Jinki watches as she draws a sketch of a building, followed soon by following Jongin’s lead and galloping the toy horses back and forth along the hearth.  Jongin proudly reveals that Minho rides horses and Eunsook calmly reveals that she rides them too.  Jongin stops his horses’ galloping and stares at her in wonder.

Minjung steps out of the bedroom only long enough to wave good-bye to Eunsook, not willing to risk actually holding the little girl.  At the scent from the open door, Eunsook’s cheeks begin to flush and her eyes shift slightly, startling Minjung who hadn’t witnessed the earlier episode.  Jinki stops her from reaching out a hand to check Eunsook’s forehead for a fever.

“I’ll explain,” he says quietly, gently guiding Minjung back into the room.  “Just keep Taemin safe.”  Minjung looks at him in confusion, mouth opening in protest, and then closing again when he quickly shakes his head.  He closes the door and shares a look with Onew who declares that it is now time for he and Eunsook to leave.

Jongin follows them eagerly, stepping sloppily into his own winter boots and grabbing Taemin’s coat by mistake.  Jinki doesn’t notice the error until they’re outside and the hug his son is sharing with Eunsook lasts a little too long.  Onew begins to tug his daughter away and Jongin takes the opportunity to kiss her on the cheek, a show of affection that she scrunches her nose at.

His boots crunch through the snow as he trots back up to Jinki’s side.  He wraps an arm around the back of Jinki’s thigh and waves as Onew and Eunsook’s truck rolls down the drive and disappears down the road.

“I like her,” he says happily, bouncing through the snow ahead of Jinki.  Jinki laughs quietly because his son is sure to get snow into his boots if he keeps it up.

“I’m glad,” he answers.  “Family should like each other.” 

Jongin stops abruptly and whips around.  “Everyone should like everyone!” he cries.

“Yes,” Jinki concedes, watching his son in wonder, “that is true.  Everyone should like everyone.  That would be very nice.”

“It’s too bad Taemin didn’t get to meet her,” Jongin continues, his voice sad as he begins hopping again in the snow.  “And saying ‘Hi’ doesn’t count.  I think he would have liked her too.  Minho also.”

Jinki laughs as they reach the patio and he holds open the screen while his son pushes open the heavy wood door.  “Why Minho?”

“Because they’re both alphas!” Jongin explains, tossing his boots back onto the mat.  Taemin’s coat gets hung up on a different hook than before.

“Well,” Jinki says, his own boots and coat now tucked away, “Taemin will meet her again when he’s older.”

“Do you think they’ll like each other?  Now that he’s family?”  Jinki pauses, Jongin watching him expectantly.  He can tell that his son is hoping for a good answer for his brother.

“I think-” A clatter from the back draws both of their attentions and Jinki’s eyes soften when it’s followed by a bewildered Taemin wandering out of his bedroom, hair mussed with a fist at his eyes.  He turns back to Jongin and ruffles his hair.  “I think they’ll like each other very much,” he says before turning back to Taemin who has made his way to them on unsteady feet and bending down to pick him up. 

Jongin nods and declares, “Good!” before running past them and back to the pile of toys and the fire still crackling behind the mesh gate.

When Taemin is finally well enough to play two days later, he shakes his head in confusion when he’s asked if he remembers meeting Onew and Eunsook.  Jongin takes the opportunity to begin telling his brother all about their visitor and Jinki slips away, down the hall to the kitchen, a mix of disappointment and relief that his son has no recollection of meeting his soul bond.

~

The truck rumbles over the snow-packed roads, rocking back and forth but never slipping.  Eunsook keeps her eyes on the night sky and absently licks at the sticky mess the treat her sire handed her in one of the village shops has left at her lips.  She leans forward and searches for the moon, it’s light evident but itself hiding behind the trees.  Stars glitter in the sky above while her sire turns down their main drive and suddenly the moon, full and radiant, glows before her.

The fields lay fallow and buried beneath mounds of snow that sparkle now in the moonlight.  There is smoke coming out of the chimney in steady puffs when they pull up.  Eunsook wraps her scarf tight around her mouth before climbing down from the truck.  She dashes through the icy air up onto the porch and pushes open the door eagerly with one mittened hand. 

As quickly as she can, she tucks her mittens into her pockets, steps out of her boots, and hangs her scarf and hat up with her coat.  Then she hurries down the hallway to the bedroom her guardians share.

Sunyoung is awake when she steps in, her tired smile familiar.  A beautiful omega with soft white blond hair that now lies across her shoulder in a thick braid down nearly to her lap, she sits up and opens her arms when she sees her daughter in the doorway.  Eunsook falls into them eagerly.

“Welcome back, my love,” she says softly, her arms holding Eunsook tightly.  The little girl smells her dam’s hair and smiles.  “Tell me all about your adventure.”

Eunsook sits in front of her dam while fingers weave her hair into beautiful braids.  She tells Sunyoung about the travel into the village, of seeing the poles with power panels on them.  The paved roads had been hidden beneath snow and ice for most of their trip, though in the shop her sire took her to just before they left town there had been pale green rocks on a clear gray-brown sidewalk that had held her attention for quite a long while.

She’s laughing after telling her dam of the face Jongin made when she told him that she rode horses all the time.

“He was so surprised, Amma!”

“And what of Taemin?” Sunyoung asks, delicately twisting the braids into a crown around her daughter’s head.  “What did he think?”

Eunsook turns to her dam with eyes that are pale green and a pupil that has grown thinner.  Sunyoung gasps in surprise, dropping the braid in her hand.

“He was sick.” 

Sunyoung nods slowly.  “Oh.”

“He glowed.” 

Sunyoung’s eyes widen as she picks up the dropped braid.  “Glowed?”

“Appa said it might have been the light but I knew it wasn’t true.  Then he sent me calm and his thoughts.  Taemin’s soul is bonded to mine, Amma.  We are in a covenant now.”

“And you agreed?” her dam asks quietly.

“Yes,” Eunsook answers emphatically.

“That is good.  Did anything else happen?”  To her relief, the color shifts back in her daughter’s eyes as Eunsook suddenly begins describing the treat her sire bought her at the end of their journey.

“A lo-lo-pop.  Or lo-li-pop,” she says, turning back around.  “I don’t remember now how they said it.  It was very sticky.”

“Ah.” 

“And pretty.  Like a little rainbow swirled onto a wooden stick.” 

Her dam chuckles lightly behind her.  “That does sound pretty.  There you go,” she says, patting Eunsook’s back, “a crown for my queen.”  Eunsook jumps off the bed and scurries to the bathing room and its reflective glass, twisting left and right to see the crown of braids her dam has woven from as many angles as she can.

“A queen,” Eunsook murmurs thoughtfully.  Never anything less, her dam insisted, never simply the heir to a throne or a pawn in the war between others.  It was a title that no longer served any purpose outside of fables, but fables were art that reflected the struggles of life and they were what her dam told her.  They were lessons, though Eunsook didn’t know it, and they each ended with some version of “Rule well and rule wisely.  Take care of those who cannot care for themselves.” 

She hurries back into the bedroom where her dam still lies upon the bed, an arm over her eyes with the bond mark at her wrist catching her daughter’s eye.  Eunsook climbs up beside her and takes the wrist, rubbing her thumb over the mark her sire made twelve years ago.

“I’m going to bite Taemin,” she says thoughtfully, wondering if he’ll cry when she does. 

“Are you?” her dam asks delicately, a hand rubbing over the back of Eunsook’s neck.  “When?”

“When he comes of age.  Appa wouldn’t agree to it.  He said it would be my decision, though, when it is time.”

“And Taemin’s.” 

Eunsook looks up, wide-eyed and her thumb stills against her mother’s wrist.  “Of course.” 

Her dam squeezes her chin and kisses her forehead.  “May the Ancients bring you both joy.”

The little girl curls up with one of her dam’s arms wrapped around her shoulders and the other lying before her.  Little divots in the skin of her dam’s wrist hold her gaze while she listens to another fable.  

Another night, another lesson, another memory Eunsook will look back on and smile at when she is grown.  Loss, fidelity, love, and cruelty all being lain out before her in tales spoken in her dam’s dulcet tone.  Occasionally, they are sung in a voice so beautiful Eunsook sometimes believes her sire’s tale of her dam’s being born of the moon.

“That is why I call her Luna,” he says with a wink. 

A tale of a wise ruler washes against her ears and her thoughts are a jumble of memories from the day as she listens.  Tonight, is special because it is the one in which her dam gives her a blessing for a bond she won’t live to see, knowing that she wouldn’t.

Sunyoung has not told Eunsook that their time together is slowly slipping away.  The pain of urgency the dam felt at the loss of time kept her from allowing the child to create one of her own.  What Eunsook doesn’t understand is that the tone of her dam’s hair is evidence of something sinister, that fate is painting sorrow through the strands she thinks are so beautiful.    The mark on her dam’s wrist that she loves is beginning to fade as well, the illness in Sunyoung’s body laying claim to everything she holds dear. 

These marks are scars that will spread and before she is thirteen Eunsook will watch and feel them take hold of her own heart and strip pieces away, letting them fall to shreds.  Her sire’s cheeks will flush with drink and his eyes will be damp with sorrow.  A wall will grow around him, a shrine to his beloved mate, and Eunsook will be allowed her sire, but for at least two years it will be only in fractured pieces that are often unrecognizable.

Another omega will enter her life, another with hair the white blond color of her dam’s only this time it is by choice and not by fate.  The wounds lain open and raw from when she was a little girl begin to heal beneath tender hands and a kiss in a darkened room.  They will be friends who make choices and Eunsook will learn even more about being an alpha to an omega from Junghee.

There will be nights long after she comes of age, long after a solstice or an equinox means Junghee’s warmth beside her in bed, where she will fall asleep or wake up with tears on her cheeks, reverting to a child who sobs in the dark because they miss their dam and knows they will never be held in their arms again.

Those will be the hardest.  And those will be when she leans on the fables her dam taught her the most.

Tonight, she doesn’t know that any of these will happen.  Tonight, she knows only that Taemin is the boy who glowed, and whose fever she could feel burn, and whose wrist she will bite when they are both of age.

Tonight, Eunsook closes her eyes as Sunyoung’s tale nears its end.  When it finishes, she asks for a song and soon falls asleep to the soothing sound of her dam’s voice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! :)


	3. Kibum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Omegas do not form love bonds with omegas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember how in the last chapter I set up a whole storyline that demands that Eunsook & Taemin get together? That they absolutely have to? #plottwist.

*10 years later*

  


Taemin watches Jongin run out to Minho as he comes up the walkway. He blinks into the sunlight as his brother runs into his soul bond’s arms. 

  


Less than two weeks have passed since the solstice and less than two remain until the anniversary of Jongin’s birth and their Ceremony of Intention: Minho is now of age for bonding but Jongin is only old enough to become Intended. He watches as Minho swings Jongin around through the air, the pair laughing, and when he puts him back down they each take a dizzying step back. Taemin watches a moment more before he steps back inside.

  


They follow him in and soon the three of them are sitting at the table with steaming cups of mulled cider, Jongin’s hand holding Minho’s and their eyes only for each other. Taemin has begun playing the role of chaperon during Minho’s visits and he doesn’t quite understand why, doesn’t quite resent it, but isn’t quite pleased with it either. 

  


The chair that sits empty beside him, always empty, or the one that sits empty between himself and Jongin when he feels disinterested in his role, seems even more obvious than it should be. Only a chair, a simple piece of furniture, it so often seems to be waiting for someone, that it knows a secret that Taemin is being kept in the dark of, and all he really knows is that there is a part of himself that feels sad, maybe even empty, when he sees how full Jongin is when he’s with Minho. 

  


Even when he sees how Minho is when he’s with Jongin. 

  


Even when he doesn’t see them at all.

  


~

  


Kibum arrives to his cousin’s home a day early and full of anticipation. At the last moment his grand dam had been unable to travel with him and so he had taken the journey alone, his first such ever. Minho’s sire, dam, and elder brother are as warm as Kibum remembers, though Minho himself is even more excitable than usual, grabbing him up in an embrace so tight Kibum’s arms begin to ache.

  


It hadn’t been that long ago that he had spent his summers being chased by his elder cousin and best friend in games that left Minho grinning and Kibum disgruntled.

  


The Chois’ summer home sits on the edge of an enormous emerald lake that sparkles in the afternoon sun and Kibum’s grand dam took him there to visit Minho’s grand dam when the heat of their tiny village became oppressive.

  


They are Kibum’s only other family besides his grand dam, and a distant alpha cousin who stepped in when needed. And while Minho’s sire always smiled at him coolly, an alpha who held mild affection for an omega child not their own, and his dam and alpha brother only slightly warmer, Minho grabbed him up in his arms and grinned at him as though they were best friends from the day they met.

  


And soon, they were.

  


Year after year he looked forward to those visits, the freedom of youth leaving him nearly unaware of their status as alpha and omega children. They would forget as soon as they were alone, and remember as soon as they were with their guardians, Minho’s sire quick to remind them with sharp eyes and a raised brow.

  


As they got older, their freedoms grew less, though their affections never wavered, and Minho was always Kibum’s best friend. 

  


Outside of summer visits, letters were constantly exchanged, and while Kibum always knew who and what Jongin was, it was with a bit a twinge of something he didn’t recognize to read the minute changes in the way Minho wrote about him.

  


Of course, he teased him relentlessly for it.

  


And then, suddenly, Minho stopped writing. 

  


For over a month, Kibum waited for a letter, sending out five of his own, frustrated by his grand dam’s refusal to allow him access to the communication pad, only a soft, “Give him time” whispered with a wrinkled hand rubbed soothingly at his back and squeezing his own when he protested. He pressed his thumb to his lip so hard that he left a mark that chapped and needed ointment.

  


And then, just as suddenly, Minho started writing.

  


His best friend’s first rut had taken him by surprise, though it shouldn’t have, and Kibum was himself startled to realize he hadn’t been paying attention to the calendar either. If Minho had gone into rut then he himself would be going into heat within less than two years. The thought had something cold settling into his chest and the next time Minho called it was his turn to not accept.

  


Eventually, equilibrium was found and they answered each other’s letters, a new topic weaving its way into their conversation; heats and ruts and bonds and all that that meant.

  


And suddenly everything they had never had to face as children, all the reasons the guardians had watched them with such sharp eyes, made sense. Kibum had never felt his omega status so acutely as he did now, and he had shivered when he had realized that despite his desire for young, for a mating bond, he was relieved to not be tied to an alpha. 

  


He had stopped cold when he had realized that he shouldn’t be.

  


Now, three years later, they visit well into the night and, when they can no longer keep awake, Kibum is sent to a lower-level apartment separated from the others: An omega of distant blood relation in a house with an unbound, though Covenanted alpha would need to be kept apart, if only for appearances.

  


He expects he’ll be introduced to his cousin’s Covenanted the next day but is disappointed to learn they will not meet until the ceremony itself.

  


“Tradition,” Minho explains with a shrug.

  


Instead, his cousin spends the day taking him around the city and teasing him about his sheltered village life and elbowing him every time Kibum becomes flushed with excitement over a technology unknown to him, such as the doors that slide open just by their approach.

  


When the time comes to prepare for the ceremony, Kibum fidgets with the button of his silk tunic. It’s not his own, a gift from Minho’s dam that makes him uneasy in its finery and implications. 

  


“Finally, I get to meet your beloved Jongin,” he says with a tease. He pulls at the tunic’s collar pressing against his throat, twisting his head from side to side, watching his reflection in the mirror. His eyelashes flutter as he rolls his eyes when Minho’s dreamy, “Yes” floats from behind him. 

  


Kibum has put great effort into his appearance for his cousin’s Ceremony of Intention. The aqua silk tunic and pants gifted by Minho’s dam are highlighted with his shoulder blade-long hair plaited into a design of five strands with golden threads glimmering throughout falling down his shoulder. 

  


Minho stands behind him in a crimson suit of his own with his cropped hair combed back. The confidence with which he stands as he slips thin gold rings on his fingers has nerves of apprehension tingling throughout Kibum’s body: He’s a mix of excitement at attending such a lavish ceremony and fear of stumbling through it.

  


Minho is a member of the elite, of the wealthy who live in, or at least near the city. Kibum, though hardly poor, lives in the country as an orphan with an ancient grand dam. There is no alpha Intended waiting for him at home, none who would have attended this ceremony with him if they existed. 

  


There is a tinge of jealousy at what his friend has always had, at what the omega his own age will receive today: The steadiness of a love bond already formed, and the security of a Ceremony of Intention performed before witnesses. 

  


Kibum runs his fingers through his hair and tries to calm his nerves.

  


“You look fine!” Minho cries, laughing. “Stop fiddling.”

  


“I always look fine,” Kibum retorts. “Just a little nervous.”

  


“It’s  my ceremony,” Minho points out.

  


“Yes, but,” Kibum says as he turns around, “it is also Jongin.”

  


“Yes,” Minho concedes, that dreamy tone to his voice again and Kibum slips his arm through Minho’s, leaning his head against his cousin’s shoulder.

  


  


  


Taemin watches Jongin prepare for his ceremony with an amused smile, laughing at how nervous his brother looks as he fixes his hair in the mirrored glass. 

  


“It is only Minho,” he says, back against the wall and arms crossed. 

  


The tunic he wears is a dark purple and near in tone to the one Jongin wears. During preparations, it had seemed to suddenly occur to Jongin that at this ceremony there would be an alpha waiting to take his hand and none to take Taemin’s. And though Taemin had made no remark, Jongin had quietly insisted that Taemin’s clothing be as fine as his own, an act too kind for even Taemin to tease him for. Unlike tonight.

  


“It’s…” Jongin’s voice falters and Taemin laughs again. A glare is sent his way through the glass. “Stop laughing.” 

Taemin nods and steps forward, wrapping his arms around his brother’s waist and propping his head on his shoulder. “You’ll be fine.”

  


“What if I mess up my lines?”

  


“That will definitely happen.” Taemin laughs again and yelps when Jongin pinches his arm. Pulling away, he moves back to his original spot, this time with his arms at his side. “Minho won’t care, though. And that is what matters.” 

  


Jongin watches him in the mirror long enough for Taemin to frown. “What?” His brother only shakes his head and turns back to his hair.

  


“Nothing.”

  


  


  


Kibum follows Minho and his family through the crowd to their place at the front. There is a hush that falls as they near their destination and a reverential silence once they arrive.

  


Minho’s dam is seated first followed by his sire. Kibum is then guided to a place behind them. Minho takes the blessing of his grand dam, a withered palm to each cheek and a kiss to his forehead, before leaving them to take his place at the altar.

  


Barely a moment passes before his bare feet are reaching the soft carpet and a priestess appears, followed soon by a bonded alpha and omega pair.

  


Kibum had had no reason before this evening to meet Jongin’s sire and dam and his first impression is good. 

  


Handsome, well-dressed, and the warmth of the smiles upon the pair seeing Minho and his cousin seeing them are so genuine that he finds his own lips turning up in response.

  


They step aside, revealing an omega nearer Kibum’s age who holds the hand of another who is slightly taller and whose skin is slightly warmer in tone. Their face is hidden beneath a thin veil and they hold an ancient parchment in one hand which shakes slightly.

  


Kibum listens with as much attention as he can muster while the boy recites familiar verses, voice so quiet it is nearly impossible to hear. 

  


It is the other one, the one holding his hand still, a breach of ceremony that hasn’t gone unnoticed, who captures his attention. He had tried to step away but the veiled one had gripped him tightly and so he stands now, the perfect audience for the soft recitation.

  


The boy is watching the one hidden by the veil with warm affection, a hint of asmile on his lips and his eyes keep dancing across the veiled face. There is a calmness, an equanimity to his gaze that puts Kibum at ease in as much as it sets his heart to race. He is beautiful, no other word can describe him. Long ebony hair braided in low loops over golden skin and lips that, even from the distance between them and Kibum, Kibum can tell are petal pink.

  


Beautiful, Kibum thinks again, his heart beating a bit too fast and his cheeks a bit too warm. He shifts in his seat and tries to pay attention to his cousin and to his cousin’s soon-to-be Intended. 

  


It is difficult, though, and he finds his eyes continually wandering to look again at the other omega.

  


Finally, the words die down and the hands held between the omegas release. The mood shifts and Minho steps forward as the veiled omega turns and the other steps back. 

  


The priestess moves behind them and they stand before one another, Minho reaching out by habit and quickly letting his hand fall, eyes cast down in embarrassment and there is a smattering of cooing in the audience. 

  


“Minho of the clan Choi. You have been in Covenant with Jongin of the clan Lee since you were both young. Today you have the choice to declare your intention to bond with Jongin when he comes of age. Do you accept?”

  


Minho answers, “I do” so quickly and intensely that Kibum bursts out laughing, slapping his thigh in humor. To his relief, he is not the only one, his gaffe lost in a sea of laughter. 

  


It is no surprise; the pair has a soul bond and there was no chance of Minho denying the opportunity to accept Jongin as his Intended. It is still amusing to all the intensity with which he does so.

  


And with that, they are each declared Intended. 

  


As they and Jongin’s family step down from the altar and come towards Minho’s family, it strikes Kibum that Jongin has been asked no questions. He had been to such ceremonies before but never for someone he knew so well, no one his own age, and now that it was personal he feels the imbalance acutely. He wonders if Jongin does as well.

  


  


Taemin watches Minho acknowledge Jongin as his Intended and he watches Jongin smile happily as he is embraced by the alpha he’s known since the third day after he was born. 

  


And it’s in that moment, the very first moment he has ever stopped to wonder why he doesn’t have a Covenant of his own. As it has never crossed his mind he has never asked his parents and it isn’t until this very moment that he ever thought he would. 

  


The happy couple is happy and they smile and accept the blessings of the elder guardians and of their sires and dams. 

  


Taemin is left off to the side as he has no function in these moments after the ceremony any more than he had a part of the ceremony himself. Jongin held his hand when he was alone, but he has Minho beside him now. Taemin is left with the freedom to stare and wander the room while Jongin and Minho continue to greet their guests.

  


Many strangers and friends fill the space and it’s difficult to see over and around them as he is yet still small. “Not until your sixteenth or seventeenth year,” his dam had explained patiently when he had asked when he would grow to his greatest. “It will be seen later whether you grow any further than that. Your heats will bring about extra height so there is that to look forward to.” Taemin had made a face and left his dam where she sat kneeling in the yard with a straw hat on her head and a pile of weeds at her feet.

  


Now he keeps close to the wall as he makes his way toward a dark corner. A break is needed, a chance to catch his breath and be alone for a moment before being caught up again in the reminder that he is alone.

  


  


  


When Minho introduces Kibum to Jongin’s dam, he is surprised to find himself wrapped up in a warm hug that smells of earth, a gentle whisper of “I’m so glad you were able to be here for your friend” in his ear, and he leans into the kindness a little longer than was fair. 

  


When Minho introduces him to Jongin’s sire he bows and congratulates him on his son’s good match.

  


To his dismay, the boy from before, the omega who had held Jongin’s hand is not with them. Even as he thinks to ask where he might be he lets the question die away. Minho is smiling too brightly at Jongin who is grinning back, and he doesn’t know the boy’s guardians well enough to ask. 

  


Instead, he follows the pair as well as he can as they move back through the crowd, greeting and being congratulated all the while. 

  


After enough strangers give him a confused smile, he slips away, searching out a quiet corner and tucking himself within its shadows. A breath is needed, a moment to gather his thoughts.

  


A sigh and a dull thud to his left catches his attention and he looks over to find the boy from earlier, the one who had held Jongin’s hand leaning against the wall beside him. 

  


The boy blows out a puff of air, the strands of hair at his forehead fluttering up, arms crossing and eyes at his feet. 

  


Stunned at the appearance and again finding his heart racing a bit too fast, Kibum coughs, choking on air. The boy looks up at him in surprise, as though he hadn’t noticed that another was already standing there.

  


“Hi,” Kibum says weakly, uncertain of what else to say, and unsure he would be able to manage more even if he could think.

  


“Oh. Hi.” The boy turns then, shifting so that a shoulder presses to where his back had been a moment ago, arms still crossed. “Who are you?”

  


Kibum points at his chest, flustered. “Me?”

  


“Yes,” the boy says with a laugh. “I don’t recognize you. Are you of Minho’s clan?”

  


“I…” Kibum frowns, not sure how to answer that. “Not exactly. A cousin. Distantly.”

  


“Ah.” The boy keeps watching him and Kibum watches back, distracted enough by eyes that nearly sparkle that he doesn’t notice that the other hasn’t introduced himself. “Are you unwell?”

  


Kibum’s brows furrow in confusion. “I…what?”

  


“You keep staring.” 

  


Kibum’s eyes grow wide and he glances away, embarrassed. “Just waiting for you to introduce yourself.”

  


“Why?”

  


He looks back over, warily. “I told you who I am.”

  


“No, you didn’t.” 

  


Kibum frowns. “Yes, I did.”

  


“No,” the boy laughs. “You said you were Minho’s distant cousin. That’s what you are. You never said who you are.” 

  


Kibum scoffs, eyes rolling. “I’m Kibum.”

  


“Taemin.”

  


“And what are you Taemin? Now that you know what I am.”

  


“Jongin’s brother.”

  


“Ah. Oh, of course. Minho…”

  


“…does not speak of much other than Jongin, yes?” 

  


Taemin’s smile is teasing but Kibum sees the same spark of sadness that burns in his own heart. He wonders if there is an alpha waiting for Taemin when he reaches the age for his own Ceremony of Intention as well. 

  


  


  


Jinki watches his youngest child speaking with the young omega he’s only just met, Minho’s friend. They are tucked away in a quiet corner and he smiles, pleased that his son has found someone who so fully draws his attention. 

  


Turning back to his eldest, he thinks still about his youngest and wishes that a similar ceremony was already planned and waiting for him in six months at the anniversary of his birth.

  


Tonight, however, he is satisfied to celebrate the love of the two before him.

  


Three nights later he looks at the face of his young cousin on the communication pad. Eleven when the Covenant was made between herself and Taemin, she is now twenty-one and very much alone in deciding the fate of the two.

  


“It is good to see you, cousin,” Jinki says brightly, truly pleased to see how much Eunsook’s dam is reflected in her own face.

  


“And you,” is her quiet reply. “I am sorry I could not attend Jongin’s ceremony. Please tell me that my gift arrived.”

  


“Yes. And he was very delighted to receive it.” 

  


The young alpha blushes demurely and Jinki hesitates to press on. To his surprise, it is she who broaches the subject. “Taemin, though…”

  


“Yes. He will soon be of age for his own Ceremony of Intention.”

  


“Does he wish to meet me?” 

  


Jinki stops, startled. “He…has no memory of meeting you as a child. And there was no Ceremony of Covenant. As was requested by your sire. I thought that now-”

  


“If he doesn’t know, shouldn’t we let him alone?”

  


“Eunsook,” Jinki begins carefully, “I don’t think you quite-”

  


“There is still time. He’s still quite young.”

  


“Yes, but-” 

  


Eunsook shakes her head. “I understand, cousin. I do. I know what we are to each other. I will sign the declaration. Just as with the Covenant, though, let there be no ceremony.”

  


“Eunsook-”

  


“At Jongin’s Ceremony of Bonding,” she abruptly declares.

  


Jinki blinks, his mind a whirl. “What?”

  


“You’re right. I cannot give him, give either of us forever. At Jongin’s Ceremony of Bonding we will meet. He will be older then. He will be without his brother for three months after that day, and it will give us six months to know each other. We won’t need them, of that I know. And then we will bond at the anniversary of his birth.”

  


Jinki sighs in relief, tension melting away. “Finally, you speak some sense.” 

  


Eunsook laughs, eyes crinkling in a way that reminds him of her sire from days when he still smiled. “It was bound to happen eventually.”

  


“It is good to see you, Eunsook. Truly.”

  


“It is good to see you as well.”

  


~

  


It’s when Jongin looks back with frightened eyes that Taemin nearly bolts from his place among the youth to his brother. 

  


The fingers at his side yearn to hold Jongin’s hand and it is only Jongin’s small smile and a slight shake of his head that keeps Taemin where he stands.

  


They both knew this day was coming. Jongin had spoken of nothing much else since the day Minho claimed his intention to bond with Jongin two months ago, and the last three weeks had been spent with Taemin watching the pair slowly dance away from each other, their usual tender affection fading away to furtive glances. 

  


Jongin’s first heat was different from Minho’s first rut. 

  


Jongin had not been able to sense the change in Minho, but Minho could smell the change in Jongin; even Taemin could see the way the alpha’s eyes had shifted the last three days before he left to endure his rut far away from Jongin.

  


And now Jongin’s own eyes are dark and heavy as he turns away, disappearing around a corner before Taemin can send out a calm or thought to his brother.

  


It’s the same as it always is; three days and two nights spent among other youths near his age and cared for by omegas who have taken vows and wear the shroud to prove it.

Their wrists are smooth and some of their smiles sad, a few of them are even unkind in their care. Taemin keeps away from those and stays with his friends, the youths born within the same solar year as his brother and himself and still too young to be taken by a heat.

  


Sungwoon and Jimin play games and tell stories as they wait, but Taemin is too worried for his brother to understand what they’re saying, and more than once he hears Moonkyu’s voice tell the others to leave him be.

  


When Jongin emerges, he looks just as he had when he left, albeit a little flushed. He smiles tiredly when he sees Taemin and hugs his brother tightly when he finds himself caught up in the younger’s embrace. 

  


He doesn’t answer any questions while they are still at the heat house, falls asleep during the ride home, and naps yet still another hour, Taemin lying beside him and watching him with his fists tucked beneath his chin.

  


Only after all of that does he open his eyes and laugh at the look on his younger brother’s face, poking his nose in amusement. “Were you this worried the entire time?” 

Taemin bristles, tucking his fists tighter beneath his chin. “I was only curious,” he mutters, though he stays where he is, where he can see Jongin and feel the warmth of his body.

  


“It’s just as they say,” Jongin murmurs, finger falling to the bed and running across the blanket. Taemin watches the movement. “The rooms are dim and cool. The drinks are slightly bitter, though I think they do their best to sweeten them. I only woke once.” 

  


Taemin stares at Jongin’s face. “What was it like?” he whispers.

  


Jongin looks up, eyes pensive. “Hot. Wet. I…” He swallows, glancing at the closed door and back at Taemin. “I wanted Minho. I’ve never wanted Minho like that before. Minho told me ruts were difficult and I believed him but…if that’s what they’re like for him…” Suddenly he looks away and shrugs. “An Avowed saw me and brought me drink. I was not awake for long.”

  


The way his brother begins gnawing at his lip, so like their sire upsets Taemin and he thinks of ways to ease the tension. 

  


He bites his own lip before asking, “Do you think Amma misses the heat houses?” The pensiveness in Jongin’s eyes is soon replaced with shock and Taemin fights to hold back laughter.

  


“Taemin!”

  


“A full day of rest with drinks brought to help sleep...” He grunts when he’s hit in the face with one of Jongin’s pillows.

  


~

  


Kibum leans up against the cool of the brick building behind him & watches Jongin dash away from Minho. They’re there to play football but the pair are the only ones running on the field. A cloudy spring sky keeps the day gray though neither of them seem affected by the melancholy weather. 

  


The yelp of delight Jongin lets out when Minho catches him from behind & swings him through the air makes Kibum’s heart clench and he looks down at his fingernails. It’s envy, that simple, though not resentment. The attachment he has to Minho wouldn’t make for a good match & it’s not that he wants Minho but he wants to be wanted the way Jongin is wanted by Minho. 

  


The final member of their group, the omega from the ceremony, Taemin comes around the corner. Kibum smiles at the memory of the evening they spent together so many months ago. 

  


They had each intended to make their way back to their seats but had gotten so lost in conversation that neither had remembered to. 

  


Taemin’s sire had been the one to find them, to Kibum’s mortification, and he was certain his cheeks must have been burning bright when he joined the Choi family. Minho’s sire had barely glanced at him, though his dam had raised a disapproving brow.

  


Now Kibum stands against another wall, watching Taemin watching the two at play just as Kibum had & Kibum notices a familiar flicker of envy that washes over the other’s face. 

  


At least he isn’t alone.

  


“Hi,” he calls out before he can stop himself, a hand waved in greeting another step at acknowledgment. 

  


Taemin looks over & smiles, waving himself. “Hi. Were you waiting long?”

  


“No, not long. And they…” Kibum lets the sentence hang as he turns his gaze toward the pair on the field. 

  


He and Taemin are meant to function as chaperons, even though he is a visiting guest, his grand dam visiting with Minho’s grand dam after being unable to attend the Ceremony of Intention earlier in winter. 

  


They are unnecessary and the request made of them a burden as Jongin and Minho are so wrapped up in each other that they have no space for any other. And Minho is so protective of Jongin’s innocence that he would rather cut off his own hand than let any harm come to the omega Intended to him. 

  


Yet here they are, Kibum and Taemin, standing on the sidelines of a love story at play each wondering passively when their chance to step on the stage will be and who will be there when the spotlight shines.

  


“It’s always like this,” Taemin says with a rueful smile. “Soul bonds.” He shrugs his shoulders as though explaining something simple. Kibum would like to hear Taemin’s voice more, but not on matters of his cousin’s love.

  


“And you? Have you a Covenant? An alpha waiting to become an Intended?” He crosses his ankles and congratulates himself on keeping a steady tone. Of all the things they had spoken of those many months ago, somehow the obvious had never been asked.

  


“No,” Taemin replies, almost wistfully, “none for me. You?” 

  


Kibum grimaces at the question. “No, none for me either. Grand dam wants that I would bond for love.” 

  


“Ah,” Taemin says, nodding. 

  


The conversation wanes then, the silence punctuated by bursts of Minho and Jongin yelling and laughing as they run up and down the field. Abruptly, Kibum makes some off-hand comment about music that piques Taemin’s interest.

When Minho and Jongin finally decide to leave, it takes three calls of Kibum’s and Taemin’s names to get their attention. 

  


Another two to get them to leave the wall. 

  


~

  


Taemin leans back in his lounge chair with his feet poking out in the hot July sun beneath the over-sized umbrella stuck in his chair and watches his brother giggle in the arms of his Intended. Minho is behind Jongin on the black asphalt of the Chois’ tennis court, his arms wrapped around Jongin’s front as he tries to grasp the ball Jongin is clutching tight to his chest out of his hands. 

  


Kibum sits beside him with his feet tucked in from the overhead sun and blacked out glasses resting over his eyes. Glasses of drink sit on the table between himself and Kibum that glisten with condensation on the side and tinkle when picked up, spheres of ice tapping against the inner edges. 

  


They are at Minho’s home which means the glasses are true glass and served on a silver tray of true silver by staff in a uniform and a tight smile. Taemin likes it when they visit the Choi house because it means he doesn’t have to serve the drinks or clean up after Minho leaves. 

  


He especially likes it today with Kibum by his side. 

  


A squeal from Jongin again draws his attention and now his brother is bent over in a fit of laughter and Minho’s fingers are working at his sides in an aggressive assault of tickling. 

  


Taemin is bored of their antics and turns to Kibum for companionship and distraction as Jongin breaks free from Minho’s grasp and begins dashing across the court. Taemin is still looking at Kibum whose gaze could be on anything or nothing but is most definitely hidden behind his blacked-out glasses. 

  


“What’s new with you?” Taemin asks, admiring Kibum’s profile and the smoothness of his skin. He has no topics at hand to discuss and he doesn’t know Kibum well enough yet to broach ones the other might be interested in. 

  


They’d met once since the Ceremony of Intention in January and they had spoken for hours and yet Taemin could not recall much of what it was about. There was talk of their mutual lack of Covenants, music, and how when it came to plant life Kibum’s thumb was a bright green while Taemin’s was nearly black; that he remembered. 

  


He remembered also the way Kibum’s shoulders curved when he got shy, the softness of his eyes, and the scar in his brow that Taemin itched to touch.

  


He had enjoyed every minute of their time together.

  


Now it is July and the question is a tease in its own way and a somewhat sarcastic remark as nothing truly happens in their village and even less so in the one Kibum lives in with his grand dam.

  


“This conversation,” Kibum answers with a sideways smile. 

  


Taemin rolls his eyes and smiles against his straw, watching the dimple in Kibum’s cheek. Quiet on the court draws his attention and he looks over to see Jongin and Minho hugging. Minho walks away empty-handed while Jongin picks up his racket and, once Minho is in place, strikes the ball with all of his might. 

  


Taemin knows that Minho holds back his strength when he plays with Jongin, though he doesn’t do the same at all when it is Taemin on the court. When he notices, Jongin objects, but Taemin knows that Minho finds it difficult to play fair when it means that in any way Jongin might get hurt; his body or his feelings. He’s playing for real for now, but he’s beginning to struggle, and Taemin turns to Kibum with a grin.

  


“How long do you think Minho will manage to play at full strength before he breaks and begins taking it easy on my brother?”

  


Kibum raises his head and observes the match a few moments before responding. “My guess would be seven minutes.”

  


“I would say five,” Taemin muses.

  


“How long after do you think it will take Jongin to notice and put his hands on his hips in protest?” 

  


Taemin laughs, amused that Kibum, who has only been visiting for half a week has learned Jongin’s mannerisms so well. “Today? Another five. Perhaps as much as ten. It is a high infatuation day and I do not think that he is really paying attention to the game.”

  


“Perhaps not,” Kibum says slowly, “but that was quite the struggle for the ball.” 

  


Taemin shrugs. “I think he was more into it for the hug than any victory.”

  


“You may have a point. I’m saying seven on both, then. And you say five?”

  


“Yes.”

  


“And what is our wager?” Kibum asks as he lies back down. 

  


Taemin watches him and thinks. The sound of the ball thudding back and forth across the court reminds him of the beat of a recently popular song and he grins mischievously as he says that a dance should be their barter.

  


The sunglasses that have so far remained still on Kibum’s nose now rise to his brow and Taemin sees that the scarred one is raised incredulously as Kibum asks, “A dance?”

  


“A dance.”

  


“Three minutes.”

  


“For the-” Kibum tilts his chin and Taemin looks over at Jongin and Minho and inwardly cheers Minho’s tender nature on. 

  


Nodding, he turns back. “We’re the only ones here and it’s only a silly bet. Agreed?” 

  


The thudding continues in the backdrop while Kibum considers and ultimately he raises his shoulders in confirmation. “Agreed.  Two minutes. I look forward to seeing your moves.” 

  


Taemin scoffs as he turns back to the game, pulling his feet out of the sun to tuck his knees beneath his chin and wrap his arms around his shins.

  


In the end, neither of them are right on how long it takes Minho to begin cheating as the alpha manages to make it a full ten minutes before giving away the game. 

  


It is Kibum who wins on the Jongin end of the bet as at almost exactly the seven-minute mark the unhappy frown that had been slowly growing on Jongin’s face finally turns furious and he stands up with his fists at his hips as he cries, “Choi Minho stop letting me win!” 

  


Kibum sighs happily and turns to Taemin who grumbles about having said “as much as ten” as he stands up from his perch. Minho is apologizing as a backdrop and Jongin is saying something back but Taemin hears neither well as he begins to move his body in exaggerated moves as his embarrassment at losing has him trying to distract Kibum from his victory. 

  


When the two minutes finally end, Jongin whoops in the background, but Kibum only watches him from behind the blackened glasses.

  


“Well?” Taemin asks impatiently. 

  


“Well what?” is the infuriatingly calm reply he receives.

  


“What did you think of my dancing?” 

  


Kibum shrugs and reaches over to grab his glass and it’s then that Taemin sees that the tips of his ears and the apples of his cheeks are tinged pink. Kibum holds the straw in one hand and just before he puts it in his lips to take a sip he says, “It was only a wager.”

  


“What was a wager?” comes Minho’s deep voice from behind them and Jongin is looking at them in interest as well. 

  


They stand side by side and they glow with exertion and with love and neither Kibum nor Taemin hesitate to answer, “You”. 

  


It’s an accident, they answer in unison and Taemin’s eyes crinkle as he smiles at Kibum with delight. The only other person who will tease Jongin and Minho, it seems. A new ally for when their love and devotion to one another gets to be a bit too much for Taemin to endure alone.

  


Jongin’s eyes narrow but Minho, surprisingly, only laughs good-naturedly before patting Jongin on the shoulder and tilting his head back toward the court. 

  


Taemin sits down again and pokes his feet back out into the sun. The thump, thump, thump of the ball against the court echoes in front of him as he turns to Kibum and says, “You must visit more often.” Kibum nods silently even as his lips turn up into a satisfied smile.

  


~

  


Kibum sits with Minho at the small table in the middle of the floral garden he’s tended to with his grand dam since he was five and watches as alpha after alpha carries every bit of the life he shares with her out of their home and into a waiting trailer.

  


“It will be good to have you near,” Minho says, taking a sip of the drink Kibum’s grand dam had insisted he have. Two clear glasses filled with sparkling drink sit on a silver tray between them and they watch as the elder omega, along with Minho’s own grand dam, give instructions to the movers. Minho’s sire stands with them though she keeps silent, a symbol of authority as an alpha, though merely through age the two nearly outrank her.

  


“Yes,” Kibum agrees, thinking of Taemin and how often they will be able to sit beside each other.

  


“Taemin will be glad to have you near.” Kibum coughs as his eyes widen, and he turns his head to his cousin before he can catch himself.

  


“What-why-what-why would-” 

  


Minho laughs, taking another sip. “The guardians make him our chaperon with every visit. I think…I know he finds it dull. And he was very happy to have you around. It will be easier to keep in touch if you actually see each other and no longer need to rely on writing letters.” Kibum blushes and picks up his glass and takes a long drink. Minho only watches in amusement as he continues. “I haven’t told him. And since he has not been grinning as you have these last weeks, apparently you haven’t either.” 

  


Kibum ducks his head. “No,” he says, suddenly embarrassed. “I wanted it to be a surprise.”

  


“Well it will be, cousin. And I think it will be a very happy one.” Kibum smiles, looking down at his drink. After the equinox, he thinks, after the anniversary of his birth. Soon.

  


~

  


The wing of the heat house where Taemin now finds himself is just as Jongin had described; dimly lit and cool with Avowed omegas dressed in pale linen frocks and warm smiles moving up and down the rows of beds with pitchers in their hands. An omega older than his dam with skin wrinkled from years of smiling leads Taemin to a bed covered in a gray sheet and assures him that she will be back soon with a firm squeeze of his shoulder.

  


He sits gingerly on the soft linen and looks around the room. 

  


A few of the beds have double the occupants, omega youths frightened of their first heats holding the hands of those who have experienced them before, or those experiencing them for the first time as well, for courage while they still can. 

  


Taemin wishes Jongin were here to hold his hand, but he was lost somehow in the crowd and Taemin is alone without even his friends as he sits and waits. Jongin had told him of how his own heats had been, of the drinks the Avowed would soon provide. Still, Taemin worries. The hands folded at his lap hold his attention and he stares at his fingers and thinks of Kibum and smiles. 

  


Suddenly, a hand at his shoulder and a huffed, “There you are!” grab his attention and he looks up to find Jongin asking the omega in the bed beside Taemin if he may take her place. One look at Taemin has her smiling and nodding and now Jongin sits at the bed beside him.

  


“What were you thinking about?” his brother asks, glancing around the room distractedly.

  


“What?”

  


“When I came in,” he continues, still looking around, “you were smiling. What were you thinking about?”

  


“I…ah…I was…” Taemin’s cheeks burn and he can feel his eyes widen.  Kibum , he thinks,  Kibum, of course: what else ? 

  


To his relief, the Avowed begin pouring drinks and having the omega youths lie down. He turns to Jongin only to find his brother staring at him. Frozen, he stares back. They’re silent until an Avowed reaches their beds and says it’s time, a cup offered to Jongin first. It takes a moment for him to notice her presence, though when he does he is all good manners and accepts the drink with a word of gratitude. Taemin follows Jongin’s lead and soon the Avowed moves on. He lies down and folds his hands over his chest, keeping his eyes on his fingers until he feels himself fall asleep. 

  


~

  


Taemin’s eyes grow wide and he leaps at Kibum, throwing his arms around the other’s neck and surprising Jongin and Minho who watch from behind him. 

  


“Does this mean you’ll be on all the visits?” he asks excitedly as he steps back. 

  


Kibum feigns a reluctant smile. “I suppose so. If I have to.”

  


“No,” Minho cuts in, his eyes dark and mouth set. “There is no need. One chaperon is quite enough.” 

  


Taemin’s smile drops and he looks to Jongin who turns to Minho who’s still looking at Kibum. Kibum sighs and shakes his head. “Are you always like this? No wonder Taemin is constantly bored.” 

  


Jongin begins to chuckle, turning to hide his face with a cupped hand, and Minho’s facade is quickly broken by the amusement of his soul bond. 

  


The panic in Taemin’s eyes melts and another smile, albeit tentative, makes it way to his lips. “Then you will be on the visits?” he asks again, glancing once at Minho as he takes a step forward to place a hand on Kibum’s shoulder.

  


“Of course,” Kibum answers softly, caught again in the beauty of Taemin’s eyes.

  


“Good,” is the response he’s given. That and the warm hand that continues to rest on his shoulder.

  


~

  


Taemin holds Kibum’s hands and only shrugs when Minho teases him about losing his gloves. A feigned illness during the Ceremonial Hunt meant not seeing Kibum for a week. Too long, Taemin thinks, rubbing his thumb lightly over Kibum’s fingers. They are walking through the snow because Jongin had been struck by the beauty of the falling flakes. He walks with an arm linked through Minho’s while Taemin and Kibum follow behind.

  


Taemin listens to Kibum talk and watches the way his lips move, laughs at the wrong moment and almost loses Kibum’s warm fingers.

  


At the end of the visit, he hugs Kibum quickly, hurrying down the drive and turning just as he reaches the vehicle waiting for him and waving good-bye with a gloved hand. 

  


~

  


“I hate this season,” Taemin says bitterly, staring out the window at the snow falling in thick flakes, “the Holy Day of Mourning. I don’t like that it happens so near the anniversary of Jongin’s birth. Such a sad thing shouldn’t happen so near such a happy thing.”

  


“It would have to happen near someone’s birth,” Kibum points out absently from where he lies on his bed with a magazine in hand.

  


“At least I have no one to mourn,” Taemin sighs as he lies down beside him, arm tossed lazily across his forehead. 

  


Kibum shallows his breathing as he always does when Taemin throws himself so casually near. It’s a habit by now; he doesn’t even realize he’s doing it anymore.

  


“Truly blessed,” he murmurs, turning the page.

  


“Will you go for your parents?” Taemin asks quietly. “You don’t talk about them much.” 

  


Kibum glares out of the corner of his eye and grips the pages in his hand a bit tighter. “I don’t talk about them at all,” he points out, voice sharp.

  


“I know,” Taemin answers, eyes still at the ceiling. “I was trying to be tactful.” Kibum scoffs and flips a page. “What?”

  


Kibum hesitates, eyes unfocused on the page before him. He lets it fall to his chest, fingers still gripping the pages.

  


“We’re more alike than you think,” he begins slowly, his eyes staring at the wall lit by a winter sun. “Than I let on. Not even…” he pauses, wondering. “I’m not sure even Minho knows, though his guardians might.” He turns then, onto his shoulder, pages crinkling in protest. Taemin’s head turns to watch him. “They’re not dead, I’m not an orphan.” The eyes he has begun to love blink and then the brows he has begun to love furrow.

  


“What?”

  


“I’m not an orphan. Grand dam just says I am. I…here.” The magazine falls forgotten to the floor as he climbs off the bed. It’s a process to break through the two locks that reveal a hidden compartment all within a simple box that seemingly holds nothing.

  


A crinkled sheaf of paper reveals itself and he unfolds it carefully, avoiding looking at the familiar words before handing it to the other omega.

  


“No one wanted us, you and I,” he says bitterly as Taemin’s eyes flicker over the paper. “It’s just that my parents made it official when they abandoned me.”

  


It’s silent in the room as Taemin’s eyes scan the document with Kibum’s name, date of birth, and Confirmation of Release all neatly printed on it.

“We were wanted too, though,” he murmurs suddenly, eyes still on the sheaf. “You have your grand dam & I have my sire, dam, & Jongin. And we each have a Confirmation of Acceptance.” He pulls out another document and shakes it gently with a smile. 

  


Tucking it back in, he adds, “And now we…we have each other.” There’s a soft flush to his cheeks and he doesn’t look up as he carefully folds the first sheaf back together. Kibum takes the hope and the heat in his own cheeks and tucks them both away for the future.

  


“Fate,” he chuckles, no acerbic remark clicking in his head or off his tongue because suddenly he hopes it might be true, that the scar he’s carried on his heart since he was a child was actually a mark that Taemin carries as well and instead of it making Kibum an outcast it makes them a pair. 

  


Taemin chuckles too and finally looks up. “It could be worse, you know. When I was eight, finally old enough to join the guardians for a hunt I watched Jongin shift into a beautiful wolf. Soft gray with pale violet eyes. I was so proud. And then those eyes turned to me, bright with excitement and I was excited too. And then they slowly began to glisten with confusion. No matter what I did, nothing changed. My skin stayed golden and no fur ever formed.”

  


Kibum swallows hard and his heart skips a beat as he listens.

  


“I was shaking and my sire kept saying my name in the softest voice and then Jongin was whimpering. I began crying and asking him why I couldn’t do it and he said he didn’t know. It didn’t make sense; I could hear his thoughts in the forest as a child, I could hear them still, I should be able to shift. It never occurred to the guardians that I wouldn’t.

  


“I was so scared. I asked him where I would go now. I was sure he would send me away. Jongin was still in wolf form, nuzzling me with his snout and whimpering, and I was petting him and crying. And then my sire stood up and his eyes grew dark and I cried even harder and Jongin began to howl. It was awful.

  


“Then he picked me up and held me tight. He whispered in my ear that I would come on the Hunt. I would carry supplies between the tents and I would stay with my dam while Jongin joined the other omegas. And that when it was finished I would come back home with them. That nothing had changed.  ‘Nothing has changed, Taemin. Nothing. You are my son. Always.’  No one else knows,” he adds with a shy smile. “You’re the only one I’ve ever told.” 

  


“I can’t even hear thoughts,” Kibum confesses breathlessly. Taemin’s eyes widen and it’s as though all the air in the room has dissipated.

  


“Then…”

  


“Minho knows. And now you.” 

  


They stare at each other in the uneasy quiet, too many revelations in too little time to be comfortable. 

  


Then suddenly Taemin’s lip quirks up in a half-smile. “We really are fated.”

  


Kibum snorts. “If we were fated we would live closer.”

  


Taemin’s fingers meet his on the bedding. “At least you are no longer in that tiny village.”

  


“The outskirts of the city is still too far away.” 

  


Taemin laughs. “You should live with Minho.”

  


“Fate will bring us together,” Kibum says, curling his fingers against Taemin’s. “Just watch.”

  


  


~

  


  


“What do you think of Kibum?” Taemin asks carefully, his eyes studiously focused on the cup in his hand and the towel with which he dries it. His brother’s own hands are in the basin of water, emerging amongst small waves with the last of the dishes from their evening meal: A single fork.

  


“I knew there was one more,” Jongin mutters, pulling the drain and letting the waterline slowly disappear as he scrubs and rinses off the utensil, handing it to Taemin and his drying towel. 

  


Taemin takes it and swallows back the urge to repeat the question. They’re nearly done and once they’re fully finished he can try again.

  


“Kibum?” his brother asks distractedly, glancing over once before he begins wiping down the counters around the sink. “I like him. Although,” he laughs, turning to take the towel out of Taemin’s hands, “I haven’t had as many conversations with him as you have. But I’ve enjoyed the ones we’ve had. And he makes Minho laugh.” 

  


Taemin follows as Jongin begins walking down the hall toward the washing room. He stands in the doorway with crossed arms as his brother drops the towels they had just used into the ancient machine. They’re halfway across the hall when Jongin chuckles and looks to him. “Why do you ask?” 

  


Taemin pauses. “I like him too.” He waits, watching Jongin take in his words and hoping he absorbs the meaning behind them as well. 

  


His brother’s smile remains though he begins to look at him in confusion, leaning up against the wall with his own arms crossed. “With as much time as you two spend together, I would hope so.”

  


“No, Jongin, I  like him.” He waits again, again hoping. Jongin’s brows begin to furrow. “Very much,” he adds, watching his brother’s head begin to tilt. “Like you like Minho.” 

  


Jongin blinks once before his eyes slowly soften, a hand reaching out to rest on Taemin’s arm. “I thought so. I just wasn’t sure.”

  


“I don’t know what to do,” Taemin whispers, arms tightening around his chest.

“What do you mean?” Jongin asks, brows furrowing again as he takes his place again against the wall.

  


“I…do you think he likes me too?” Jongin bursts out laughing and Taemin frowns. “Why are you laughing?”

  


“That’s not the problem, Taemin. Though yes, I do think he does. But…” Jongin’s eyes soften again only this time there’s a ribbon of worry woven within his gaze. “You’re both omegas.” 

  


Taemin’s shoulders slump. “I know.”

  


“Just be careful,” his brother cautions, reaching out again to place a hand at Taemin’s arm.

  


~

  


At Minho’s final, focused strike, Kibum and Taemin are soundly defeated. 

  


The same court they had so often watched Jongin and Minho play on they now play on too. Neither are in the game to win. In fact, half of the reason they are sweating beneath a late spring sun is for the simple joy of watching Minho’s composure crumble in frustration when it becomes clear that neither of them are going to be worthy opponents.

  


The other half is for the freedom the exercise gives them. No excuses need to be made to hold hands, no second glances given when they run around the court in a frenzy. Just open affection and laughter. 

  


Taemin is laughing, spinning Kibum through the air as he has seen Minho do to Jongin so many times. When he puts him back down, he looks up and sees his brother watching. The way Jongin watches makes Taemin’s chest tighten. His brother’s eyes are warm but sad, and so is his smile. Taemin turns away, laughing again when he sees that Kibum is still dizzy.

  


~

  


Taemin and Kibum hold hands beneath the table at the Choi house and their thumbs play notes up and down each other’s knuckles. Their empty hands hold cold drinks and they sip in silence while they grin against their straws. 

  


  


~

  


They are all too old to be playing a game of dares, but it is the anniversary of Taemin’s birth and by rights they follow his insistence. 

  


There are others there that Kibum only faintly recognizes, omegas named Moonkyu and Jimin who are friendly enough but stick close to Jongin and Taemin. He feels his presence as an outsider acutely and if it weren’t for the way Taemin’s eyes shine and how he slips both arms around Kibum’s he might have made an excuse to leave early.

  


Instead, he stays.

  


And at this moment, regrets it dearly.

  


“You don’t have to do it,” Jongin tries to console him from across the table. 

  


Moonkyu and Jimin nod in agreement even as Taemin shakes his head. “Of course he does. And I will see to it.” He stands and raises a brow at Kibum who himself begins to slowly rise. The other three begin to follow but stop when Taemin raises a hand. “No, just us.” They exchange glances before nodding, eyes blank as they watch Kibum make his way toward the door.

  


The challenge was to climb up onto the roof of Taemin’s home. A ladder is easily pulled from a shed by the omega’s hands and Kibum swallows heavily as he watches it be placed against the frame of the house. He takes a deep breath and has both hands on the sturdy wood when he feels Taemin’s warm hand on his arm.

  


“Kibum.” He turns and finds himself struck by a look in Taemin’s eye he’s never seen before; a mixture of eagerness and fear. “This isn’t the true challenge. My true challenge…is to kiss me.” There’s a brief pause before his eyes widen and he blurts out, “Only if you want to!”

  


Kibum stares. 

  


There had been flickers of hope that what he had imagined were moments of reciprocity were true but they were only flickers: Omegas didn’t fall in love with omegas.

  


“Don’t tease me, Taemin,” he says carefully.

  


“If it were a tease we would have stayed inside.” There’s an earnestness in his tone and Kibum can’t catch his breath as Taemin’s gaze never wavers.

  


“You’ve…never…we’ve…” 

  


Taemin’s shoulders droop and his eyes begin to look everywhere except Kibum’s face. “Just say no, Kibum. You don’t have to explain or make excuses.”

  


“Ancients, Taemin,” Kibum breathes, taking a step forward. Taemin looks up, dark eyes flickering back and forth between his own. “I’m saying everything but ‘no.’” 

  


The air grows warm between them and Taemin’s gaze slips to Kibum’s lips as he leans forward. 

  


Halfway in, Taemin pauses and looks back up at Kibum who only breathes in the stillness. He doesn’t know what he’s doing, and neither does Taemin by the looks of things, but somehow the warmth of the palm at his jaw and the way Taemin’s hips feel beneath his own hands seems familiar. 

  


A swallow and a deep breath by both and then Taemin’s lips are on his, soft and chaste and he feels a rush thrill through his nerves. He blinks twice as he pulls away, biting his lower lip shyly. 

  


Taemin’s watching him earnestly, lips already turning up in a grin. “I want to kiss you again,” he says eagerly. 

  


Kibum grins too because he also wants Taemin to kiss him again. 

  


But he doesn’t let him. Instead, he’s the one to press their lips together for a second time.

  


And it’s not until Kibum’s halfway back down the ladder, after making it up to the roof, that he remembers that he’s afraid of heights.

  


~

  


“I love you,” Taemin whispers in the dark, the two lying on their backs and staring at a ceiling that is shrouded from their sight. A month has passed since their first kiss, a year and a half since they first met. They are alone in the room Taemin has spent every night for the last twelve years because they are omegas and no guardian suspects. 

Jongin is the only one who knows.

  


Taemin smiles into the dark when he hears Kibum whisper, “I love you too.”

  


And then it hits, a warmth that flows from his chest out through his entire body. He shivers as a sensation he’s never felt before washes over him and a faint burst of golden sparkles flutters across his visage. 

  


Startled, he turns to Kibum only to find him glowing with the same golden sparkle. It’s fading into the dimness but there’s no denying it’s appearance, especially as Kibum’s eyes continue to glow.

  


“Taemin,” his love whispers, an awe to his voice.

  


He answers with a kiss, a giggling mess that has him holding Kibum tight around the neck. 

  


As he had fallen in love with Kibum, he had hoped for such a moment. The chances were never in their favor, so many barriers already surrounded their love. Yet despite them all, despite knowing that they will never form a mating bond, Taemin and Kibum this night have formed a love bond.

  


~

  


“Does this happen to you every year?” Kibum asks, lying in the bed beside Taemin with their fingers loosely entwined.

  


“No,” Taemin answers, voice hoarse, “though often enough that it has become a joke in the village. Occasionally I only pretend. This time I really am sick.”

  


“You’ll probably make me sick as well,” Kibum muses, wiggling his fingers. Taemin only hums, eyes closed and mouth open as he labors to breathe through a congested airway.

  


The guardians had allowed Kibum to keep behind to care for Taemin. The Ceremonial Hunt means that nearly all are away, but an alpha who normally guards the heat houses had been left to guard the youths. She sits now in the kitchen with a book while the two lie in Taemin’s bed. Kibum listens as his love drifts in and out of sleep, coughs and sniffles reminders of why they’re there, and he keeps their fingers tied throughout the day as much as he can. 

  


They are safe with the alpha guardian, but she is still a stranger to them, and so even when he becomes hungry he stays in the bed. It is well into the night before he stirs, and it is only at Taemin’s own insistence of hunger and thirst. The alpha guardian smiles and is kind but curt, never rising from her seat while he prepares a meal for himself and his love. 

  


They eat soup and drink tea in Taemin’s bedroom and Kibum kisses his forehead softly. Taemin murmurs, “I love you” as quietly as he can in a voice that is deep and that is followed with a racking cough. 

  


Kibum laughs and whispers, “I love you too. Now keep silent and go to sleep,” pushing Taemin back onto the bed and rubbing his back until his love is no longer awake.

  


He takes the dishes to the kitchen, washes them, dries them, puts them away, and then goes back to where he belongs: By Taemin’s side. 

  


Another three days pass in this manner as Taemin grows healthier and their time together shorter. By the end of it, there is no more coughing and a jubilant Jinki, Minjung, Jongin, and Minho return, smiles on their faces and only Jongin knowing what the time alone has meant for the two omegas.

  


~

  


“Appa?” Taemin asks timidly, standing in the doorway of his sire’s study and watching as Jinki works his fingers over a screen that is too flat for him to see. A scattering of paper covers the desk and pair of bookcases rise high with leather-bound tomes and a few well-worn paperbacks. The room is dark and familiar with a window directly across from where he stands letting in a bit of sunlight behind a crinkled blind.

  


“A moment, Taemin. I am nearly finished,” Jinki murmurs, eyes on the project before him. 

  


Taemin nods and waits. 

  


Another minute passes and then his sire looks up, squinting and blinking, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “What is it?”

  


“The anniversary of my Ceremony of Acceptance is soon.” Taemin watches with a flush to his chest as his sire’s face lights up.

  


“Yes,” he says brightly, “I look forward to celebrating.”

  


“As do I. It is only just…it is…I…” Taemin licks his lips and presses on. “Would it be acceptable for me to have a friend to dinner?” He watches with a sinking heart as his sire’s smile turns to a frown.

  


“To the family dinner?”

  


“I…yes.” Jinki leans back, arms folding tight across his chest. Taemin’s own hands link at his waist and his shoulders begin to curve in a submissive pose.

  


“Who?”

  


“Kibum. Minho’s cousin.”

  


“Oh!” To his relief, the frown on his sire’s face melts away to a look of understanding. “Of course. He is nearly family, isn’t he?”

  


“Yes,” Taemin answers with a nod, “he nearly is.” He pushes back the thought of how he wishes that he were allowed to be and presses on. “So, would it be acceptable?”

  


“Nearly isn’t actually, Taemin,” his sire says in a patronizing tone. “Let me speak with your dam first before any such decision is made.” 

  


Taemin frowns.

  


“Minho is allowed,” he snaps. There’s a sudden freeze to the air and he regrets speaking as soon as the words are out of his mouth.

  


“Jongin is Intended to Minho. And they are soul bonds. Minho  is family.” There’s a sharpness to his sire’s tone that Taemin didn’t expect but that he should have. 

  


“Forgive me, Appa. I should not have said it like that.”

  


“Of course, little one. Family always forgives.” He gives Taemin a smile that Taemin does his best to reflect back. “Now, go be productive. I will finish this and then I will talk to your dam. And there is no need to get worked up about it. We both know that she will give you what you want.” He winks then and Taemin chuckles, though still a bit unsure. He nods and closes the door of his sire’s study, holding the handle in his hand and staring at the wood long after the lock had clicked. He waits a few more moments before turning to his own room.

  


Kibum is beside him on the anniversary of his Ceremony of Acceptance when his sire recounts the story of how he was found in the woods. 

  


~

  


Kibum’s grand dam dies on a spring day far too bright for the shadow that is cast. 

  


Kibum blinks back tears and presses the back of his thumb against tight lips as the warmth of Minho’s arm lies against his shoulder and the fire of his grandmother’s funeral pyre burns.

  


He is now officially without clan.

  


A crowd adorned in white surrounds him as they watch an elder absorbed by the flames. The priestess says a few words and blesses Kibum’s forehead with their palm. 

  


Taemin and Jongin’s guardians come to him, Jinki pressing a palm to his cheek and Minjung holding him fast. Taemin says nothing and a sob ripples through Kibum’s chest and through his lips. His face is in his hands when he feels Taemin’s fingers in his hair and the lips of his love pressed to his forehead. Kibum’s head falls against Taemin’s shoulder and his back is soothed by the other’s hands, arms holding him tight. 

  


The Chois intercede immediately and by the end of the day he has a home in their estate, the things he had in the house he shared with his grand dam packed up and safely stored away. When later that evening he steps into the basement apartment he had spent nights in as a visitor it’s filled with things that are familiar but that look wrong in the new space.

  


Everything looks wrong.

  


Everything feels wrong.

  


Everything except Taemin’s hand holding Kibum’s as they walk from the pyre back to the lot where all the vehicles wait to take the mourners home. 

  


Except Kibum. 

  


He will be going to the Chois’.

  


“I didn’t know,” Taemin whispers sadly, furtively, apologetically even. Kibum knows immediately what he’s talking about and that he’s a fool for thinking it: Fate did not take his grand dam away to bring them closer together. 

  


“I love you,” he whispers instead, squeezing the hand in his.

  


“I love you,” is whispered back, his hand squeezed in return before they’re separated and he watches Taemin watch him leave with the Chois.

  


~

  


The early summer sun stings but there’s a soft breeze that cuts through the heat as Taemin thinks about what he wants to say.

  


  


“Do you think about the future?” Taemin asks casually, glancing at Kibum out of the corner of his eye before turning his gaze back on his brother. Jongin’s own eyes are on the board before him, game piece in hand, and Minho’s are on Jongin as he waits his turn.

  


“Of course.”

  


“What do you want?”

  


“Well,” Kibum scoffs, “I have no Covenant so it’s either the heat houses as an Avowed or-”

  


“No,” Taemin interrupts, turning then to look at Kibum fully. “What do you want?” 

  


Kibum’s eyes stay down, focused on his hands. The shaded glasses keep his thoughts hidden. “A family,” he says softly, as though it were a secret to be ashamed of. “A bond and young.”

  


“You should have that,” Taemin answers, voice equally gentle. Kibum scoffs again, turning even as he slips the shaded glasses over his head.

  


“Those things require Covenants and alphas. Those things aren’t mine.”

  


“They should be.” 

  


Without thinking, Taemin’s hand reaches across the space between them and takes hold of Kibum’s wrist, sliding down until it’s resting over the back of Kibum’s hand. Kibum looks at it for what seems an eternity before turning his own around and opening his fingers wide so that they lace with Taemin’s.

  


“My grand dam never made me a Covenant. And the Chois won’t make me one either. They all want me to have a love bond before a mating bond. But how can I have a love bond with an alpha when…” He looks up then, looks into Taemin’s eyes and Taemin can only smile sadly and wish he could give his love the bond and the young he wants.

  


“We will be good together in the heat houses as Avowed,” he says quietly, shaking Kibum’s hand. A soft chuckle is elicited from his love and it is enough for now.

  


“We will be awful,” Kibum argues. “But at least…we will be together.” 

  


  


  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #look#writing people falling in love because they just...are attracted to each other IS FLIPPIN' HARD even though it's so easy to see it happening#i can see minkai & taekey happening#but i'm SO a slow burn/angst/arranged marriage junkie that fluffy/'you're cute'/'do they like me?' fic is HARD#this chapter was hard & my least favorite of everything i've written for this story#it just...gets much better (in my opinion) from here


	4. Convergence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kibum meets Eunsook.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MPOV: Kibum/Taemin/Jinki/Eunsook/Junghee.

Kibum’s breaths are absorbed by Taemin’s lips and he pulls back only long enough to gasp in more air.  The moan in his chest vibrates through his throat and a hint of a whine slips through his mouth as Taemin turns his head. They shift and now Taemin’s lips press against his neck and his own dance through Taemin’s hair until he can’t catch his breath anymore and his head falls heavy against his love’s silky locks, fingers gripping flexing biceps.

 

Everything is still new, this is only their third time together like this, Taemin’s fingers of one hand at play with Kibum’s body while the others are at his spine, holding him close. Their shirts are long discarded on the floor, bare chests pressed together and Kibum’s pants are also on the ground.

 

His head stays at Taemin’s shoulder, breaths blowing against the hair left loose there when he pulled it out of its plait nearly an hour ago. The fingers at his love’s arms fall limp to his side, his strength waning with every move Taemin makes. A curved finger has him straightening, fingers rushing up to grasp at the locks pouring down his love’s shoulders and tangling into the ebony tresses.

 

They’ve been entrusted to be alone in the house while Minjung is with Minho and Jongin making preparations for their bonding ceremony in four-and-a-half months. Another stop will be made for son and dam to look at seedlings for autumn planting. Taemin and Kibum’s disinterest had been noted and, despite Jinki also being away from the home, they had been left behind.

 

One thing had slowly led to another, and chaste kisses had led to fervent ones. Then Taemin’s fingers had slipped beneath Kibum’s tunic and he had pulled it over his head without even thinking. Ever since their first time just after Taemin’s birth anniversary a month ago, he had become intoxicated with the sensations and he was not willing to let an opportunity be lost.

 

Knowing also that they had less than a month until the equinox and the birth anniversary that would mean he would be of age had him desperate to have Taemin near.

 

Kibum’s breath hitches and Taemin pulls his lips away from his neck to kiss him again, catches his gasps, whimpers, and moans. He nods and whispers “I love you” at every desperate whisper of his own name on Kibum’s lips.

 

Kibum’s lungs burn and his head feels soft as both are deprived of badly needed air and his nerves tingle as he comes close to an edge he desperately wishes to leap across. He’s nodding at Taemin’s encouragement when a sudden bang against Taemin’s closed door startles them both. Jinki’s unmistakable voice calmly stating, “You have five minutes to make yourselves presentable” has them jumping apart and Kibum’s burning cheeks flush as Taemin’s first act is to cover Kibum with a sheet.

 

A singular creak of a hallway floorboard is the only indication of Jinki’s movement away and they both breathe hard now for new reasons.

 

Taemin’s fingers card through his own hair, mussing up the strands further and Kibum reaches over to fix them to hide the evidence and to give him an outlet for the new way his nerves tingle.

 

“Ancients,” his love whispers, turning to Kibum with wide, panicked eyes. They had neither of them heard any vehicle approaching, any door opening, never sensed another presence in the house with them. That it was Jinki of all to discover them…

 

Kibum only nods.

 

As he steps back into his pants, Kibum watches quietly as his love turns and gathers up their shirts, tossing his own over his shoulder before bunching Kibum’s up and holding it in front of his head. Kibum’s lip quirks in a tender smile as he bends his head and lets Taemin slip the shirt over his shoulders.

 

~

 

Taemin’s hand shakes as he turns the knob to his bedroom door and Kibum places his palm briefly at his love’s elbow in encouragement. When he steps into the hallway, he looks first to the main room and then to the kitchen, startled to hear his name spoken by his sire coming from the study.

 

 

Out of instinct, and their bond, he grabs at Kibum’s hand. Remembering that his sire is watching, he drops it quickly. They each take a seat on the tiny sofa that sits beneath the window. To his confusion and relief, his sire leaves the door open. Of course, he realizes belatedly, the door cannot be shut if Kibum, an unbound omega not of their clan, is inside the room.

 

Especially with how he must smell.

 

“How long?” they are asked and a part of Taemin bristles at the question: How could his sire not know how long his own son had been in love, had been bonded in love?

 

“You’ll have to be more specific, Appa,” he says softly. “I have been in love with Kibum for a long time, but we have not shared our bodies for so long.” He looks down at the ground when his sire closes his eyes. He’s not ashamed for what he has done, but he is sad that he has saddened his sire.

 

“I only meant in love, Taemin.”

 

“Our love bond was formed a year ago.”

 

Jinki looks up so quickly that Taemin himself starts, grabbing again at Kibum’s hand and this time not letting go.

 

“A bond?”

 

“Yes, Appa.”

 

“I…” His sire now looks to Kibum and reflexively Taemin squeezes his love’s hand. Kibum’s eyes turn to his lap and his shoulders curve in, a submissive pose beneath the alpha’s gaze. “A love bond?” He turns back to Taemin with a frown. “Are you sure?”

 

Taemin sits a bit straighter at the question. Of all the responses his sire could have had, all the ways he could have responded, that he asked whether Taemin was certain rather than stating that it was impossible, that two omegas could not form a bond, meant very much to him.

 

As an answer, Taemin smiles.

 

“I love him, Appa,” he says, knowing that even as the words were spoken his eyes are beginning to glow, his chest warming.

 

His sire watches impassively, the tiniest flicker of a brow the only sign that he notices the change. “If your heats are not attended to by an alpha you will die.”

 

The warmth in Taemin’s chest immediately turns to ice.

 

“Appa, I-”

 

“An alpha, Taemin. When you are of age, as Kibum nearly is, you can no longer attend the heat houses.”

 

Taemin swallows and his eyes flicker back and forth in rapid thought. “We can take vows, become one of the Avowed and care for the ones still young enough for the heat houses.”

 

Jinki scoffs, though his eyes seem sad. “Do you think they will allow you to stay together when it is known that you have a bond between yourselves?”

 

Kibum is making little gasping breaths to his side and Taemin blinks back an angry tear. “If they break us apart they will break the bond.” His sire watches him quietly, watches him think. “We would become heartsick. That would take months to heal from. Not that it matters,” he says, with sudden clarity. “The only option we have is to break the bond. That is what you are saying. We have to break the bond to not be bonded to alphas and we have to break the bond to be bonded to alphas. Or else we die.”

 

“Yes.”

 

Taemin’s breaths grow ragged and his eyes narrow. His jaw clenches and he nearly growls. “Then we will die.”

 

He hears Kibum’s small gasp and he squeezes his love’s hand in comfort. His eyes he keeps on his sire, a glare he’s never shown before he hopes burns. His sire’s eyes have narrowed in return and they are in a stalemate of sorts, neither of them willing to go any farther in the fight and neither willing to retreat.

 

The sound of a horn honking pulls their attention, though neither of them look away. At the sound of a distant door opening, Jinki sighs, turning to Kibum who is still looking down. “He is young and foolish, but you are nearly of age. Speak sense to him.” He spares another look in Taemin’s direction before standing and then the pair are alone in the study.

 

“Taemin,” Kibum whispers, his voice shaking.

 

Swiftly, Taemin takes his love into his arms and holds him as tight as he can, swallowing as he feels the tears dampen his shoulder. He doesn’t say anything, he keeps completely silent, listening as slowly the sound of his family begins to fill the house.

 

Jongin is laughing and he can hear Minho’s deep timbre. His dam says something that sounds like it might have been his name, though his sire’s response keeps her in the kitchen. It’s so unfair, he thinks, not for the first time. All of it.

 

“We should run away,” he whispers into Kibum’s ear, just desperate enough to take the risk if it would mean even one more day with him. He feels his love shake his head against his shoulder.

 

“No, we still have time. I have one heat left and the Chois have not said that they will send me away. They have not said anything, in fact. And you cannot be bonded until the anniversary of your birth. After the solstice, the summer solstice.” He looks up then, eyes red-rimmed. “We would die anyway,” he chuckles wryly, “eventually.”

 

Taemin nods and leans in, kissing his love as though it would be their last.

 

 

Jinki knows as soon as his son steps out with Kibum that what he has said has not been received as intended. There’s a determination in each face that sets him ill at ease. And when Taemin looks up at him it is with such calm defiance that he knows he no longer has time to spare.

 

He waits until the boys are asleep, Minho having left with Kibum many hours earlier, a lingering hug between his youngest and the omega he now knows to be his son’s love bond that set his jaw to clench still burning in his mind. Minjung steps into the bedroom and looks at him in surprise when she sees that he is still fully dressed.

 

“What is wrong?”

 

“I need to go,” he answers quickly. “To speak with Eunsook.”

 

His mate immediately looks to the door behind which lies the hall and the door that leads to the room in which their youngest son sleeps.

 

“What has happened?” she asks anxiously. “They still have four months to meet.”

 

Jinki sighs, taking both her hands in his. Long thin fingers, familiar after so many years. Jongin has the same hands. Taemin does not.

 

“Taemin has fallen in love.”

 

Minjung frowns briefly, her eyes quickly widening in understanding. “Kibum.”

 

Jinki nods, shifting his stance as he prepares to speak the next piece. “They have formed a love bond.”

 

“But that,” she begins, forehead crinkling in confusion, “that’s not possible. Is it?”

 

“I witnessed it, Minjung.”

 

“They’re omegas,” his mate insists, as though it were a truth he had somehow forgotten. “And Taemin’s soul is already bonded. How-”

 

“I do not know,” he interjects, weary of questions he too has and also doesn’t have the answers to, “and it does not matter. What matters is that Eunsook knows. The time has come for her to meet Taemin, she can no longer keep herself hidden.”

 

Minjung nods, taking a deep breath. “Yes, of course.”

 

“I am going to see her,” Jinki says emphatically, watching Minjung closely for any refusal.

 

“Yes, of course,” she says again, understanding immediately. “We will be safe,” she assures him, a hand slipping out of his hold and pressing against his cheek. He believes in her faith and presses the now empty hand against the back of the hand at his cheek.

 

“I will return with her as quickly as possible.”

 

Minjung chuckles. “Whether she agrees to come with you or not?”

 

“It is no longer her choice,” Jinki replies, eyes dark, “not when my son’s life is in threat.”

 

His mate nods and kisses him. They move quietly down the hall and she asks if he would like her to prepare him food for the trip. She laughs when he pulls a travel box from the cold cupboard and a small bag off of the counter. At the last moment, she grabs him up in a hug and holds him tight, tighter and longer than he is accustomed to her doing.

 

“I love you,” she says quietly. “Now go and save our son. Again.”

 

He leans in and kisses her forehead, resting his head against hers before turning away and walking out into the night.

 

~

 

Eunsook looks up from her drawing pad, startled. The beep of the system set up to notify her of visitors had been all but forgotten, so accustomed she had been to only having guests who were previously invited. Junghee had no reason to visit, had not contacted to say that she would be, and it had been months since her sire had been by, the harvesting season keeping him busy.

 

The screen lies hidden somewhere, she’s not sure where, and so the vehicle that has tripped the system remains unknown to her while she is in the house. At the last moment, just as she stands, she notices it in the corner of the desk, beneath a pile of papers, and blinks in recognition at the face of her Intended’s sire behind the wheel.

 

“What is he doing here?” she mutters to herself. The screen is placed back on the desk and she looks down at her clothes, patting at her hair, grateful that today her appearance is not too unruly. The walk up the hall toward the doorway is taken with glances around the house, every bit of mess a pinch to her nerves.

 

Her feet slip into a pair of sandals before she steps out onto the deck. Jinki is just pulling up as she reaches the top of the stairs, and she watches as he climbs out, the sound of the door of his vehicle echoing loudly in the open space surrounding her home. He stops suddenly and takes a look around and she instinctively follows his gaze.

 

A wide open field leads up to an enormous mountain with a sparkling river at its base. A gathering of trees huddles at the front of her home and near the back, while the area where Jinki has just parked is barren and mostly dirt with a bit of pebbles for traction. More trees lie just behind, shade to cool the land when the heat rises in summer. There is also a modest garden and a small orchard heavy with fruit in various royal hues: crimson, gold, & purple.

 

The patio she stands on is a reddish wood with a round table and a quartet of metal chairs tipped up against it. A folded umbrella lies against the house. He turns to her after appraising the view and begins hurrying up the stairs to where she stands.

 

“Hello, Eunsook. We have much to discuss.”

 

 

They sit in silence at the table, cups of tea in front of them that neither of them have touched in the ensuing quiet.

 

“Taemin has fallen in love,” Jinki had said, and Eunsook had immediately lost every sense. When she had chosen to leave him to live his life free of their bond she had not thought that this would be a potential consequence. And as such, she has no response.

 

The silence continues, the steam of their tea slowly disappearing.

 

“I do not know what to say, sir,” she finally mumbles.

 

“They have formed a love bond, Eunsook.” Her eyes close and she tries to catch her breath. “Enough is enough. It is time that you met.”

 

“You…want me to break their bond?”

 

“It must be broken, Eunsook.”

 

“Does it?” she asks sadly. “He only needs me for his heats. If they are in love enough that he has formed this bond while our souls are already bonded, perhaps they should be allowed to keep the bond. The time-line doesn’t need to change.” It breaks her heart to think of it, but it would mean Taemin’s happiness.

 

“He has fallen in love with an omega.” Her brow furrows and for the first time she looks up at her cousin.

 

“An omega?”

 

“Yes. Now you understand why the bond must be broken.”

 

“I-”

 

“They don’t understand,” Jinki continues, “though I did tell them. They are young and they are foolish and they think heartsickness is as bad or worse than death.”

 

“Sir, I-”

 

“Eunsook, you must protect my son.” She watches, startled, as her cousin leans forward, eyes desperate and hands folded in supplication. “There is no doubt in my mind and in my heart that he will do something foolish. It is his way.”

 

“Does the omega have a Covenant with any alpha? Are they an Intended?”

 

Jinki leans back, frowning. “What does that-”

 

“Please, sir.”

 

“No,” he answers angrily, “he has none.

 

“Would he accept a Covenant? Would his guardians allow it?” Eunsook stifles a sigh at the way her cousin is now openly glaring at her. In her own home.

 

“It hardly matters, Eunsook.”

 

“It matters to me, sir.”

 

Jinki shifts in his chair, leaning back and crossing his arms. “Perhaps. He lives now with Minho’s family.”

 

“Jongin’s Minho?”

 

“Yes,” Jinki says, nodding. “He was raised by his grand dam. When she became unliving in spring they took him in. He is distant cousin to them.”

 

“Then he is family,” Eunsook murmurs, thinking aloud. Jinki shakes his head.

 

“They are family. Minjung’s clan.”

 

“They keep him as their own,” she points out. “They would stand for him as guardians for a Covenant and a bond.”

 

“Why are you talking of this?”

 

“Because,” Eunsook answers slowly, herself not sure if her own answer is right, “if they love each other deeply enough to form a bond then they should be together.”

 

“No,” Jinki says, shaking his head. “Taemin needs to be with you.”

 

“They could both be with me.” Eunsook watches Jinki’s face crinkle in confusion.

 

“What are you saying?”

 

“That I would bond with them both.”

 

Jinki scoffs, turning away. “You would bond with a stranger?”

 

“Taemin is a stranger.” Eunsook swallows when Jinki’s piercing gaze is back on her in an instant, a darkness she had never seen in her kind cousin’s eyes.

 

“That was your choice.”

 

“Yes, sir. I know.”

 

“And that is different,” he argues, “you are soul bonds.”

 

“Yes, but…if that was not known, if he was my Intended only because we were of the same clan, this conversation would not be happening in the way that it is.”

 

Her cousin watches her a few tense moments before sighing. “No. I suppose it would not.” A long pause lingers as Eunsook waits on his decision to her proposal. “You would bond with them both?”

 

“Yes, sir.”

 

“Knowing only that Taemin is in love with the omega?”

 

“That they have a love bond, sir,” she corrects.

 

“Double bonds are not common, Eunsook.”

 

“They are not unheard of, sir.”

 

Jinki nods, thoughtfully. “I’ve not even told you his name.”

 

“It didn’t…” she hesitates, suddenly laughing, “it didn’t seem important. All that matters is that Taemin not be harmed.”

 

“Yes,” Jinki murmurs, nodding softly.

 

“Then you agree?” Eunsook asks timidly.

 

Her cousin shakes his head and shrugs his shoulders. “It was never for me to decide, Eunsook. You are the alpha to whom Taemin is Intended. You decide his fate from now. If you are unwilling to break this bond then the bond stays in place.”

 

“That’s not true,” Eunsook argues. “The omega has the final say from Intention until bonding.”

 

“Taemin doesn’t know he is Intended,” Jinki points out, coldly. “And he won’t until Jongin’s bonding.” Eunsook looks down at her hands, suddenly ashamed though she doesn’t quite know for what.

 

“I am unwilling.”

 

“Then the bond remains.”

 

She nods, looking back up. “To whom should I make my offer to bond with the omega? Minho’s guardians? And,” she blushes, “what is the omega’s name?”

 

“Kim Kibum. And don’t worry, I will handle the arrangements for you.”

 

“No sir,” Eunsook says, shaking her head, “I will be the one to speak to them.”

 

Jinki nods and turns his head toward the front room. “The house is turning out well.”

 

Eunsook bows lightly. “Thank you, sir.”

 

“May I see where my son will be living while I am here?”

 

“Yes, of course,” Eunsook answers quickly, standing up and following Jinki as he begins to roam through the front rooms. “Then you must rest. We will go back tomorrow and I will speak to the guardians the next day.”

 

“I will send them a message tonight,” Jinki says absently, tapping at a wall and nodding in approval.

 

Eunsook suppresses a frown. “I said that I would do it myself, sir.”

 

“Then I will give you the means to contact them yourself. Let them know that you are my cousin.” He turns to her then with a tired smile. “They may be more willing to accept an offer from a stranger if they know that the stranger is the cousin of an old friend and family-by-bond.”

 

Eunsook smiles weakly and nods. “Yes, of course.”

 

Jinki turns back to his inspections and Eunsook takes a deep breath as she follows.

 

~

 

Kibum is directed quickly to his bedroom downstairs by Minho’s sire whose smile is too bright.

 

He and Minho had only just returned home from a visit with Jongin and Taemin, Minjung uncharacteristically nearby and keeping them all out of the house. Jinki had been missing which had been a relief, but the sudden rush of instruction by the alpha of the home to change into his finest attire and quickly return has his heart pounding. “You have a very important visitor,” she had said with a sly smile.

 

He runs a comb through his hair as swiftly as he can and twists it up into a smooth topknot. A sleeveless cream silk tunic with aegean and gold designs is buttoned up to the high collar and the loose pants are tight at his ankles just above matching slippers. The stairs are climbed quickly up until the last two where he slows and takes a few steadying breaths. Minho’s dam steps out of the library and beams when he sees Kibum at the top of the stairs.

 

“Hurry, hurry,” he encourages, tugging Kibum along by the elbow.

 

The parlor door stands ajar and he pushes it open fully, not-too-gently guiding Kibum inside. Kibum whips around, startled when he catches sight of Jinki standing with Minho’s sire across the hall in the library. With a knowing smile and a “I’ll leave you two to get to know each other,” Minho’s dam closes the door behind himself, leaving Kibum to stare at the door, shaken.

 

“Hello.”

 

The fingertips at his side grow cold and he fights the urge to tap his thumb against his lip as he turns slowly around.

 

An alpha stands in the room, one that he doesn’t recognize. Her smile is kind, though her eyes slightly guarded, and he has no idea why they’re being left alone or why Jinki is across the hall.

 

She is slightly taller than him with flowing black hair that has been pulled back tight in a row of silver bands that trail down her back. Her tunic is similarly sleeveless, a bright turquoise, though the tops of her bare arms are bound in leather bands and her right wrist and left forefinger are wrapped in silver and her ears and both pinkies glitter with tiny gems.

 

Belatedly, Kibum bows in reply to her greeting, awkwardly murmuring “Hello” in return.

 

“My name is Eunsook,” she says, and he’s surprised at how warm her voice is.

 

“Kibum.”

 

She watches him expectantly. He watches back.

 

“Perhaps we should sit?” she asks, a brow raised in concern.

 

Kibum nods quickly, embarrassed at his own slight. “Yes, of course,” he says, gesturing to the empty sofa. “Apologies.”

 

“No need for formalities, Kibum,” she says with an awkward laugh. “It’s unnecessary and…” she pauses as she sits, “a bit silly for what we’re about to discuss.” Her eyes turn to the ground and her brow furrows. Kibum’s own forehead crinkles in confusion as he waits. “The guardians have agreed to our bonding. If you are willing, I am offering to be your bond mate.”

 

Kibum can’t hold back the gasp in his throat. He turns swiftly in his seat, glaring at the door. “Did Jinki-sire-”

 

Eunsook holds up a hand, says “Taemin”, and Kibum quiets immediately. “You have a love bond. I can break it.” Kibum begins to sputter, eyes wide in a panic. “No, no,” Eunsook adds quickly, a hand raised, “that is not a threat. It is an offer.”

 

“I decline!”

 

“I understand. My Covenant with Taemin is already set. He is already my Intended. Jinki and I are of the same clan and when Taemin comes of age we will be bonded. That is sealed.” Kibum begins to shake his head in protest. “You have a love bond with him though,” she continues, “and I would like to protect that, if you will let me.”

 

“By being my bond mate as well?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Can you afford to?” The skepticism in Kibum’s voice and on his face can’t be hidden.

 

Eunsook only pauses a moment before laughing. “Is that really what you want to know?”

 

“I…” Kibum shrugs, overwhelmed.

 

“I cannot afford to keep you in a home such as this,” she replies, gesturing around the opulence of the room they sit in, “but I can keep us all housed and fed. Comfortably.”

 

“And you would be willing…”

 

“I am offering,” she replies kindly, eyes crinkling softly.

 

Kibum appraises her incredulously. “You don’t look old enough to bond.”

 

At the remark, she laughs. “I assure you, I am of age.”

 

“Oh.” He stares at his hands, thinking. Looking up, he asks, “Why?”

 

There’s a long pause, Eunsook’s eyes on the ground and a soft smile on her lips. “There are no limits or boundaries when it comes to love,” she finally says. “Or there shouldn’t be.”

 

Kibum looks down at his hands. This is the first offer he has ever received. It is also the oddest offer he has ever heard of: To be bonded to an alpha who will bond to another. But that other will be Taemin. And that is all he needs to know.

 

“Then I accept.”

 

“Good. I hear you will be of age soon, though no one told me exactly when.” Kibum swallows as he remembers Jinki’s words: You need an alpha to get through your heats or you will die. “Kibum?”

 

“The equinox. The anniversary of my birth is at the equinox.”

 

“Oh,” Eunsook breathes out, leaning back. There’s a sudden distance to her gaze and Kibum wonders what she’s thinking. “That’s fine,” she says in an obvious attempt to comfort him, “it is customary to wait until a week after the equinox to bond those born on its day. That gives us a bit of time to get to know one another better. Now,” she smiles, “tell me about-”

 

Her words are abruptly cut off by the opening of the parlor door and the appearance of Minho’s sire. Eunsook stands and Kibum follows suit, disappointed when he is instructed to leave so soon. He bows to the alpha to whom he is now Intended, passing Minho’s dam who grins at him and Jinki whose smile isn’t forced but isn’t wholly warm either. Soon he is again in his room, dazed and a bit confused. Also a bit hopeful. Slightly afraid. And, as his knuckle runs against his cheek, a bit teary-eyed.

 

There’s a knock at the glass door in the next room, the one set up as a living space set apart just for him. He wipes at the stray tears and takes a deep breath. The tunic and pants he had worn are slightly wrinkled now and he smooths them out, pats at his hair as he moves toward the sound even though he knows it is only Minho at the door.

 

The sound of the door sliding open, familiar and inviting, almost brings him again to tears as he knows that it’s now part of an official countdown to a “last time” he does a thing.

 

“What happened?” his friend asks anxiously, hands already at Kibum’s shoulders and eyes searching his face. Kibum shakes his head quickly, moving to the small patio with the little table and set of chairs. If Minho hugs him he will not be able to stop crying.

 

They sit and Minho waits, watches as Kibum gathers his thoughts and his composure.

 

“I’m just shocked, not sad,” he starts. Abruptly, he shakes his head. “A little sad. Scared, maybe. I am an Intended, now.” Minho’s eyes widen and his brows raise comically high.

 

“An Intended?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Have you had a suitor all this time?” his friend asks teasingly and Kibum can’t help but laugh.

 

“Of course I have. Only they won’t allow us to be bonded.”

 

Minho’s teasing smile slowly melts away. “Who is it?”

 

“A cousin of Jinki’s. Of Jongin’s too, then. And Taemin’s. Her name is Eunsook. And she has agreed to bond with both Taemin and me. That is why I agreed to it so quickly. I…I agreed to bond with a stranger, Minho. Ancients…”

 

The depth of what had only just occurred hits Kibum hard and he suddenly can’t breathe, bent over and gasping with one of Minho’s hands gripping his and the other rubbing circles over his back.

 

“It will be fine, Kibum. It will be.” He nods at his friend’s words, eyes wide as he struggles to catch his breath. Taemin, he thinks to himself over and over, seeing his love’s face in his mind’s eye and calming at the image. Taemin, Taemin.

 

“Better,” he says weakly, waving Minho away. They move back to their seats and he shakes his head and blows out a breath through puffed cheeks. “It will be fine.”

 

“At least you will stop calling me old.”

 

He looks up at Minho who smiles. “What?”

 

“Twenty does suddenly seem young now, doesn’t it? Or at least it will be.”

 

Kibum frowns in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

 

“Eunsook. She’s twenty-three.”

 

Kibum’s mouth drops open in surprise. “How do you know that?”

 

“Jongin,” Minho answers slowly. “He met her when they were kids. He thought we should be friends because we were alphas who rode horses. He asked her her birth anniversary and it’s only a few days after mine. Did you not discuss age?”

 

“We barely spoke,” Kibum mutters, “the guardians came in so quickly. All I know is her name, that she is willing to bond with us both, and that…” he stops, covering his face with his hand.

 

“What did you say, Kim Kibum?”

 

“I asked if she could afford to care for us both.” He squeezes his eyes closed and groans when he hears Minho’s high-pitched laugh punctuated by an open-hand slap against the table.

 

“A practical question,” his friend manages through his laughter. “What was her answer?”

 

Kibum lets the hand covering his face fall, his own hand dropping to the table. “That she could not provide the lifestyle that I’ve had while living here, but that she could comfortably provide housing and food for the three of us.”

 

“And that satisfied you?” Minho asks, dabbing at his eyes.

 

Kibum sighs, looking down at the table beneath his fingers. “You know what my options are, Minho. The answer didn’t really matter. I don’t even know why I asked the question.”

 

“Kibum.” Kibum waits for Minho to follow-up and when he does not, he looks toward his friend. “Were you satisfied?”

 

Without thinking, he raises a hand and presses a thumb to his lips. “You know what I’ve always wanted, Minho. And we both know that it never seemed as though it were possible. And now it might be. And with Taemin. I want that life, Minho. I want a bond, I want to have young, I want to live with Taemin and grow old with him. Yes, I want other things as well and maybe I will get them too. Maybe I won’t. We’ll see. But at least I will have Taemin. So yes, I was satisfied.”

 

Minho nods and Kibum looks out at the yard again.

 

~

 

Eunsook sits still with her back straight as Jinki takes his rightful place at her side. A cup of tea is placed into her hand and she nods in gratitude to the young omega servant as they bow and back out of the room. It’s small and handleless and she lets it warm her palm while her silver rings glisten in the afternoon sunlight. A surprisingly warm autumn day has her grateful that the turquoise gown with matching leggings she chose to wear to the meeting with the Chois happened to be sleeveless.

 

Meeting Kibum had gone as well as could be expected, though she had been startled to learn that he would be coming of age at the equinox less than three weeks away. Now it was time to speak more fully with the guardians as to the details of the bonding, though the date itself would be determined by the priestess. The nearness of the equinox didn’t concern her; omegas born so near to the mating seasons were often bonded after the anniversaries of their birth. No, it was the nearness of the date itself that concerned her: There was less than a month to prepare for an omega she had only just met to join her in her home. It is in these thoughts that her attention is caught when the Choi guardians enter the room.

 

Jinki stands and she remains seated as is custom. The guardians all greet each other and the alpha guardian bows to Eunsook while she bows to the omega guardian in turn. There’s no reason for him to be here, an omega seated among alphas, and it seems more a concession to his interests in the matters than anything else.

 

“Do drink your tea,” he says, pointing to her cup. “I wouldn’t want it to get cold and we may be here for a while.”

 

“Of course,” she agrees easily with a warm smile, taking a sip and humming in delight. “It’s very good, thank you.”

 

“Kibum brews a fine cup of tea,” he says proudly.

 

“Oh,” she says in surprise, quickly adding, “I look forward to many such cups in the future.” The omega seems pleased with the response, leaning back with a satisfied smile. Eunsook finishes her tea while the alpha guardians converse. When she finishes, the cup is taken away and the Choi alpha begins the deliberations.

 

“We would like to address the terms of bond gift immediately. We believe that once that is settled everything else will fall easily into place.”

 

Eunsook sits up even straighter and glances at Jinki. “There’s no need for any,” she begins slowly, “that is not why I’ve presented myself for bonding with Kibum.”

 

“We would not reject an offer, of course,” Jinki continues, and Eunsook clenches her jaw in embarrassment. “We would not intend for you to be insulted in any way.”

 

“No, of course not,” Eunsook adds emphatically. “I only meant to speak on my intentions. Apologies.”

 

“None necessary,” the Choi alpha says calmly with a slight wave of a hand. “It is only that we want it to be clear that we do care for Kibum as our own in stead of his grand dam now unliving. As such, a bond gift on his behalf should be offered by us in addition to his own finances.”

 

Eunsook looks to Jinki who’s looking at the Choi alpha in confusion.

 

“Kibum’s finances?”

 

“Of course,” she answers easily. “Don’t be too surprised, Jinki. Even Kibum doesn’t know. His grand dam left him a small trust to be available for him once he reached maturation. Another reason no mate was ever sought out for Kibum by us.”

 

Jinki's mouth begins to open and Eunsook shakes her head. “I don’t understand.”

 

“Yes, this is why we wanted to cover this first. Kibum is in a unique position to be financially independent. At least for about five years. That’s how long he would be able to live on his own without reliance on an alpha if he budgeted well. Knowing that attempting to form any match would require disclosing that fact meant that no such attempts were made. That was his grand dam’s intention as well, that Kibum not be put into a Covenant unless or until he found an alpha he desired to be bonded to.”

 

“A love bond,” Eunsook whispers, her breath growing shallow as the alpha continues.

 

“If you had not offered to bond with him and he agree then the money would have been made available to him once he came of age. Now,” she says brightly, not understanding what she’s just said, “he will have a Ceremony of Bonding instead.” Eunsook nods, smiling weakly, knowing that nothing has changed and yet feeling as though somehow everything has. “And it is no longer our secret to keep.”

 

“I’m sure Kibum will be quite excited to learn of his inheritance.”

 

The Choi alpha raises an eyebrow and Eunsook can feel Jinki stiffen beside her. Her heart begins to clench as she wonders what she’s said wrong.

 

“I only meant that it was imperative that you know as the account will need to be transferred into your name.”

 

Oh. “Oh, of course,” Eunsook agrees, forcing a smile even as the clench tightens.

 

“After the bonding,” the Choi omega interjects, “you can tell him whatever you like.” He watches her with eyes that seem to know more than his few words let on.

 

Her smile warms and she nods. “Yes, of course. I will.”

 

The Choi alpha walks over to a table and picks up a black tablet. “After we finish reviewing the gifts of bonding, we’ll complete the form for Intention and the transfer of funds. Guardianship will transfer automatically after the Ceremony of Bonding. That should be everything.”

 

Eunsook nods, beginning to feel a bit overwhelmed. The Choi alpha hands her the tablet and she begins to slowly scroll through the contents. “The first tab is a list of things Kibum inherited from his grand dam, heirlooms. As the sole heir to her estate, he was able to keep everything. There is a distant alpha cousin who took care of them, but made no claim. A good man.”

 

Eunsook nods again, looking through the list and wondering how satisfied Kibum will be with a life with her when his inheritances include fine jewelry. “The second tab are our offerings. Please let us know if there is anything you would prefer to be exchanged.” Eunsook nods silently as she taps the screen and begins reading the second list. A thought occurs to her and she looks up, turning to the Choi alpha with a question.

 

“Was Kibum consulted in the formation of this list?”

 

“Kibum?” The Choi alpha asks, confusion etched in their face. “No, why?”

 

“Oh, I just wondered.” Eunsook turns back to the list.

 

“Bond gifts are not for the omega,” Jinki murmurs beside her, “they are a gift to the alpha.”

 

“Would you want the gifts you give away along with your sons to be completely useless to them?” she murmurs back, eyes on the tablet.

 

“As long as they are safe and well cared for I do not care whether my gifts to another are enjoyable for them.”

 

Eunsook takes a deep breath and looks back up at the Choi alpha. “While Kibum’s bond is more than enough for me, any gift from his guardians would be a blessing that I would be honored to receive.” The Choi alpha bows to her and she bows to the Choi omega.

 

Three screens hold three separate documents and her palm is scanned on each one: Within minutes Kibum becomes her omega Intended.

 

As they stand to leave, it crosses her mind to ask to speak to Kibum one last time. As though reading her thoughts, the Choi omega steps forward and pats her cheek. “You will have plenty of days to meet and greet, Eunsook,” he says, “but it is best for you both that you get rest.” Eunsook nods and bows again, turns and follows the Choi alpha as she leads them to the door. It opens up onto a hot September sun and the pair watch from the doorway as Eunsook follows Jinki down the stairs and to her truck parked in the drive.

 

They’re half a mile away when she hears Jinki say, “You did well. Your dam would be proud.” To Eunsook’s surprise, instead of being pleased by the remark she is upset, and she quietly replies, “Don’t bring her into this,” as she turns left by a heavy tree.

 

Jinki holds his hands up and shakes them gently in surrender. “Apologies.”

 

Eunsook licks her lip as she takes a right, reaching the end of the road. Traffic now passes in both directions and she waits for a slow moving vehicle to pass before joining them.

 

“Family always forgives,” she murmurs quickly. “They didn’t seem interested to know anything about me,” she muses, fingertips tapping at the steering wheel.

 

“They already know me,” Jinki answers casually, eyes on the passing scenery, “and I stand in for your sire. That is enough for them.”

 

“I am taking him nearly a day’s journey away,” Eunsook points out. “Aren’t they at least curious to know more of the type of alpha I am?”

 

“They already know me,” Jinki repeats. “They are of Minjung’s clan and you are of mine. That is enough for now. Remember, their son has been in Covenant with ours for seventeen years, Jongin has been Minho’s Intended for two. We are very close. We are family. Had you been a true stranger you would not have left that house with their permission in anything less than two days, though it would likely have cost at least a full week of day-long negotiations. He and Minho have been the best of friends since they were very young. Minho would have put up quite the fight if he felt the alpha his guardians were considering was unfit to bond with his friend. Kibum is not their blood, but they take their responsibility to him very seriously.

“Besides,” he adds as Eunsook turns onto his road, “you are to be bonded with Taemin in less than a year. Knowing that, what doubts could they possibly have?”

 

Eunsook nods, feeling that is a weak point to make but knowing that it isn’t when suddenly she hears Jinki say one last thing that causes her ears to burn and her chest to twist. She steps out of the truck so fast she nearly falls, slipping on the gravel of the drive.

 

“What?” she calls to his back, the elder alpha already halfway up the walk to the patio. He doesn’t look back and she scrambles after him, forgetting in her rush that she had been avoiding such action in determination to avoid meeting with Taemin.

 

The screen door bangs shut behind her when she bursts into the kitchen, Jinki’s back to her where he stands at the table. “What did you say?”

 

“That they will learn of your ways soon enough with your bonding happening at the end of next week.”

 

“What do you mean, ‘the end of next week’?” Jinki begins moving toward the front of the house, stopping only a few feet from the table and then turning back to look at her. There’s only one other person, she had sensed it right away, and it occurs to her that he might have hoped there would be more.

 

“That is when your bonding has been scheduled.”

 

“Kibum only agreed today!”

 

“It was arranged in anticipation of his agreement.”

 

“But,” Eunsook sputters, “that is the week before the equinox.”

 

“Yes,” Jinki answers with a nod.

 

Eunsook clenches her fists at her side. “It should be the week after.”

 

Jinki folds his hands at his back, chest proud. “Why?”

 

“Because…because his birth anniversary…sir, his birth anniversary is the equinox.”

 

“And that is why it must be done before.” His eyes narrow. “You agreed to this, Eunsook. Are you changing your mind?”

 

Eunsook’s eyes widen, aghast at the implications of his tone. “No, sir. Of course not. It is only that it is…it is the equinox, sir.” If he won’t say it out loud then she will. If he thinks it is a thing to be ashamed of then that is his choice. “He will be in heat within days of our bonding.”

 

“And you will be in rut.”

 

Her fists tighten and her nails dig painfully into her palms. “Yes, sir.”

 

“And you will be bonded. To each other. Obviously it would be more pleasant for him to endure his heat with an alpha than to spend another session in the heat houses.”

 

“I didn’t-”

 

“Either way,” her cousin interrupts, “you have given confirmation and made him your Intended. You have agreed to this. It is your duty. You wouldn’t want to leave him without an alpha at such a time? He will be of age and his heats will need to be tended to. By you,” he adds emphatically.

 

She grits her teeth and takes a deep, steadying breath. “He can endure one last heat without a bond. It will be no mark on him and even be expected given the anniversary of his birth. It will give us time to learn each other’s ways before taking on such a task.” Eunsook speaks carefully because as thrown as she is, as startled by the revelation that she has less than two weeks when she thought she had nearly four to prepare, she knows that at this moment Jinki controls much of her future.

 

If she fights too hard, he could declare her to be unwilling to the Chois and the agreement to bond with Kibum will be broken. If he takes this away she will still be forced to bond with Taemin, only with a Taemin who will be heartsick and know that she was culpable in his love being sent away.

 

If she doesn’t fight at all, however, what has been laid out for her and Kibum, an omega she has only just met, will come to pass and she won’t let her first chance to protect her prospective mate slip by.

 

“Perhaps,” Jinki concedes, voice softening. “However, you can learn of each other’s ways after such a task has been taken. You have been with omegas in heat. You know how to behave.”

 

There’s no threat to his tone and no threat to be made of his words, but Eunsook still bristles at the implications lain against the character of her dear friend. “One omega.”

 

“Enough to know how to behave.”

 

Eunsook glares, heart weary. “Of course.”

 

“Then what does Kibum have to fear?”

 

The desire to fight still burns and as long as he will allow her to, she does her best to put forth an argument. “A first heat for an omega with an alpha is terrifying, you know that.” The last part is spat out and she watches his eyes grow cold.

 

“Then do your best to allay those fears.”

 

“It would be easier if I were given time to learn how to do so with him.”

 

“You will have time,” he answers lowly, moving toward the door, “after the bonding.”

 

Eunsook growls, her hands slamming against the solid wood table so hard that the legs clatter against the tiled floor. Her teeth elongate, her eyes glowing with pupils narrowing to thin slits. A partial shift is occurring and Jinki takes a step back, an arm raised in protection as he cowers at the unexpected show of rage.

 

A door opens from somewhere down the hall and footsteps patter towards them, an omega who lays their head against Jinki’s chest and begins to whimper, watching Eunsook with wide eyes.

 

At the arrival of his mate, Jinki seems to remember that he is in his own home and makes a display of his own, baring his teeth and emitting a low growl from his own throat. A weaker display than Eunsook’s; he is not as enraged as she is and he is not intent on enraging her further.

 

It takes Minjung softly saying her name to bring Eunsook back into focus, the thin slits in her eyes melting back into dark orbs and her teeth rounding out again.

 

“Apologies,” she whispers, shoulders slumping as Minjung hurries across the room to take her into her arms. A tear falls down her cheek and she looks over Minjung’s shoulder to where Jinki still stands. “Why would you do this?” she whispers. He does not answer her and she turns her head to rest it on Minjung’s shoulder and close her eyes. “Family always forgives” is murmured in her hair by the omega’s warm voice.

 

He is punishing her for not having been there to stop his son from falling in love with an omega. He is punishing the omega his son fell in love with. He is punishing them both together.

 

“Sir,” she says as she stands back up, Minjung’s hands still at her shoulders as she wipes the tears from her eyes.

 

“Enough, Eunsook,” he says quietly. “An agreement has been made and a date set. It is up to you now whether this boy ends up bonded or with a broken agreement to bond by the equinox. Choose wisely.” The last is spoken heavily and he gives her a look that borders on a threat. She nods in understanding before gently moving Minjung’s hands away from her shoulders and turning to the door.

 

Once outside, she passes the four chairs lined up on the patio, steps silent on the cobbled path that leads her from their kitchen door back to where her pickup truck is parked out front. The door is opened and she climbs inside, key in hand and halfway to the ignition when she stops. Hand still in the air, she stairs at the ignition and its cold steel neutrality. Without the key it is nothing and with the key it is everything. There’s no meaning to this other than that a car, or in this case truck, might run.

 

Fate bound her soul with Taemin’s and now it will bind her future with Kibum’s. Nothing has changed except how soon that future will begin. Yet that change changes everything.

 

She stares at the key another moment longer before lifting it up and slipping it into its alloted slot, twisting it and listening to the engine begin to run. Dully, she pulls the seatbelt across her chest and looks behind her for traffic that doesn’t exist. She backs out of their parking path and onto the quiet street, heading toward the main road and the path back to her home where life will make sense for a mere thirteen more days.

 

 

 

“Perhaps we shouldn’t do this,” Minjung murmurs.

 

Eunsook had only just left and Jinki had watched her listen to his cousin leave from the kitchen window. “It needs to be done.”

 

She doesn’t move, arms wrapped tight around her waist, back to him. “After the equinox.”

 

“The time has been chosen.”

 

“Do you think Taemin will forgive you?” The question is asked so quietly he almost doesn’t hear it.

 

“As long as he has air in his lungs to tell me that he despises me I will be satisfied. I will not let our son die.” He can see her nod and he waits.

 

“Do you really think this is the best way?”

 

“It is either this or send Kibum away. Now which do you think Taemin would hate me for more?”

 

“Are those really the only choices?” Minjung asks skeptically, finally turning to look at him. “Two weeks postponement is not an option?”

 

“No, Minjung, it is not.”

 

“It is only…” She looks away, frowning sadly at the floor.

 

“What?” When she looks back at him, he knows before she asks what question she is about to pose and his chest aches at the memory.

 

“Have you forgotten our own first time?”

 

“No,” he answers softly, moving toward her slowly and reaching out to brush his fingertips across her cheek, an action reminiscent of a morning years ago and to his relief this time she doesn’t flinch. “Though I have tried every day to never again have one like it.”

 

“We had a love bond already, Jinki,” she says, worried. “They have met once.”

 

“They will have all the time to learn of each other,” he assures her, taking two steps back and letting his hand again fall to his side. “And then Taemin will join them. That is all I care about, Minjung. I know that Eunsook believes that I am punishing her and I see that you are thinking it as well.” Minjung’s silence is all the answer he needs and he shakes his head. “Taemin needs to bond with Eunsook. The sooner Kibum is bonded to her, the easier it will be for them all. The only thing that matters in all this is that Taemin lives. This will ensure that.” There’s a long pause while his mate watches him, studying his face.

 

“I hope you’re right,” Minjung finally says, quietly, before turning back to the window.

 

~

 

Junghee watches Eunsook pace the length of the kitchen with a hand to her forehead, her own pressed firmly to her hips and her eyes wide in disbelief. “Twelve days?!” Eunsook nods, turning when she reaches the counter and heading back to where the tile meets the carpet. “That’s…but that’s…” She shakes her head, words failing her.

 

When Eunsook had told her what she was planning on doing, the night Jinki had arrived at her house unannounced and fallen asleep quickly after wandering through the rooms where his son would soon live, Junghee had been shocked. When Eunsook had mentioned Taemin’s name it had made sense and she had begun preparing for the loss of her friend sooner than she had expected: January was only four months away after all.

 

Now, though, what they had both thought might be a couple of months, or at least a few weeks, had turned into only a handful of days, and while Junghee was still shocked, Eunsook had begun to panic.

 

“It should have been four weeks,” she argues vehemently, turning back to pace toward the counter, “his birth anniversary is at the equinox. He should be bonded after, not before!” Abruptly she stops, her hand sliding from her forehead to the top of her hair and her eyes widen as she turns to Junghee. “And he’s so young!”

 

Junghee raises a brow, almost amused at the remark.

“He’s nearly of age, Sook. He will be of age a week after bonding. He would be even if they had waited to have you bond after the equinox. He would always be this young.” Just as Taemin will be, she thinks.

 

“Six years…” Eunsook says weakly, her eyes falling to the table.

 

“Hardly a cub,” Junghee points out encouragingly. Eunsook glares at her and Junghee only smiles tiredly.

 

“Hardly grown.”

 

“If his family has no objection,” Junghee continues, unconcerned by her friend’s look, “why should you be so worried? He has agreed, they have agreed. It is settled.”

 

Eunsook sits down, her palms hitting the table a bit too loudly and Junghee shakes at the sound. She waits for any sign of anger before taking a seat herself.

 

“I would have thought you of all around me would be more concerned,” Eunsook grumbles, “would take him into further consideration.”

 

“He is not my friend,” Junghee says carefully. “You are. And I know you. I have no worries for him: He will be fine with you.”

 

“He will have his first heat with an alpha a week after bonding, Junghee. An alpha he has met once and, if the guardians continue as they have, will have met only once.”

 

“Is that what concerns you?” Junghee asks, fighting the memories of her own first heat with an alpha. Eunsook watches her and folds her hands, lacing her fingers tight. A code they developed, a sign of control and a way to show Junghee that she is not going to take any action unless asked. Junghee reaches out quickly and taps the fingers, another code to show Eunsook that everything is alright.

 

“It is such a heavy thing right now,” she says, unlacing her fingers, “that I cannot focus on anything else. There will be so many other things to worry about. I thought we would have more time to discuss them, learn to know each other more, gain his trust, at least a little, before…before.” Junghee keeps silent. No words of comfort come to her mind and she doesn’t want to fill the air with empty nonsense. “What if I hurt him?”

 

“What?” she asks, caught off-guard by the dark question.

 

“During his heat. What if I’m too rough?” Eunsook’s voice is so quiet, so timid and frightened that Junghee’s heart begins to ache.

 

“Oh, Eunsook.” Junghee reaches out a hand, covering Eunsook’s wrist with her palm and squeezing tight. “You need to stop worrying so much. The more you do, the more difficult this will be. It is a big deal, yes, but you are magnifying it and making it worse. I’m sorry, you’re just going to have to endure the wait until you can speak with him and then you are going to have to speak with him. And frankly.” Eunsook sighs. Junghee smiles softly and adds, “You never hurt me, Eunsook. Not once. And we were very young when we began.”

 

There’s the tiniest spark of something like hope or calm, a cousin to those emotions in her friend’s eye. Her hand is covered by Eunsook’s empty one as a reward.

 

“Let’s go lie down,” she whispers, a nod from Eunsook a reply, and she takes both of Eunsook’s hands and pulls her up, walks backwards down the hall leading them to the alpha’s bed.

 

They slip off their clothes and Junghee climbs onto the bed first, opening her arms for Eunsook to follow. Eunsook lies down and curls up, hands in fists as her breaths begin to steady. Junghee lies down beside her with her head against Eunsook’s chest, just below the alpha’s breast. A single finger connects the dots between dark marks across the other’s stomach as they lay in the dark.

 

“This is our last time, isn’t it?” She asks, staring at the marks and listening to Eunsook’s breaths.

 

“Will you be OK?”

 

Junghee scoffs, finger stilling as she turns her head to look up. “Of course I will.”

 

“Will you be taken care of?”

 

She turns back, fingers now tapping against a flat stomach she knows so well. “Amber and I have already spoken, and Heechul is very interested as well. There’s a whole community out there of people taking care of each other. I’m lucky to be a member of it.”

 

“Do you want my advice?” Eunsook asks with raised brows.

 

Junghee grins. “Probably not.” She laughs at the face Eunsook makes and sticks her own tongue out in return.

 

“Well it’s good then that I have none. Either of them would be great for you and will take good care of you. Before, during, and after. Probably even make you pancakes you can eat.” She pokes at Junghee’s shoulder with a smile as they both remember their first morning together and the pancakes Junghee had requested that Eunsook, flustered after her first rut with another, and the frightened way Junghee had looked at her, had managed to both burn and under cook.

 

“Heechul would probably order in,” Junghee says with a tilt of her head.

 

“So essentially it breaks down to whether you want a morning meal that is homemade or one that is store bought?”

 

She laughs and props her head up on one hand. “Essentially, yes.”

 

Eunsook’s eyes turn sad and her smile does as well. It’s a last bit of a life they built together that is now becoming a memory with them still inside. Hours now, not days, are all they have left of their relationship maintaining itself, and even though Junghee knew all along that it would have to end it seems to have shaken Eunsook to the core to realize the truth.

 

Her fingers reach out to Junghee and Junghee taps them with her own before moving her hand forward and linking them together. They hold hands in Eunsook’s bed because there’s nothing left for them to do and because it’s the last hours of their life together and because they’re still friends and don’t want to lose each other in the rush of the new lives they’ll be building without one another. And it’s simple, calm, and kind.

 

“You don’t have to worry for me, Eunsook,” she says quietly. “I’ll be careful and I’ll be fine. I promise. “She squeezes Eunsook’s hand and is glad when hers is squeezed in return.

 

They lie again in silence.

 

Junghee takes the moment to turn her head and look up at Eunsook. Their eyes meet and she asks without speaking, grateful when Eunsook nods in reply. Her finger reaches up and brushes against Eunsook’s chin.

 

Then she turns and kisses the alpha’s breast, taking a nipple into her mouth. Eunsook shifts and her breaths begin to grow heavy, a hand running smoothly through Junghee’s golden locks.

 

“I love you,” she whispers. Junghee’s chin is gently lifted and she lets go of Eunsook and looks up. It’s a once unfamiliar look to Eunsook’s eyes, one that has grown increasingly familiar as the days between them grow to an end. “I love you,” she repeats.

 

Junghee takes the hand at her chin and moves it away, links their fingers as she sits up. The hand is then placed at her waist as she climbs into Eunsook’s lap and begins swiveling her hips.

 

“Don’t say silly things,” she murmurs with a grin, eyes beginning to blink heavily as she feels Eunsook’s body responding to her movements. “We would know by now if we had a love bond.” Eunsook’s other hand rises to take its place on the other side of Junghee’s waist and Junghee lays the fingers of both her hands over the alpha’s.

 

“No, of course. I do love you, though.” Junghee gasps as Eunsook thrusts up, languid movements growing deeper with the alpha now inside.

 

“I love you too,” she confesses, a secret kept hidden because Junghee doesn’t like commitments but she likes Eunsook. And because it never mattered before. If they were different people…

 

A supplication is moaned and she moves the hands at her waist to her chest, squeezing the fingers and her own breasts. She takes them both and clutches them to her heart before releasing them to grip the headboard with a groan.

 

Later, in the dark, she’ll hold Eunsook’s fingers in her own and listen to the alpha’s breaths behind her. “Did you tell him who you are? Who you are to Taemin?”

 

The silence lasts long enough that she begins to believe that Eunsook has fallen asleep. Then suddenly there’s a nuzzling at her neck, Eunsook’s head resting against her shoulder. “No.”

 

“Why not?” Junghee can feel the shift of Eunsook’s jaw as the alpha bites her lip in thought. She turns her head and kisses her friend’s cheek.

 

“He will want to know why Taemin doesn’t know.”

 

“Then you should tell Taemin.”

 

“No.”

 

Junghee sighs, tightening her hold on Eunsook’s fingers and closing her eyes.

 

“It’s…” She waits, Eunsook’s hesitation not unfamiliar and she can almost hear the thoughts running through her head. “I was ready to meet him in January. I was ready. It’s different now. If he has a love bond with this boy…man…omega…Kibum….I will be a distraction. They only have a few months left to have their love story left alone.” Junghee opens her mouth to speak, closing it when she feels Eunsook shake her head. “I’m saying this wrong. Kibum will be here and Taemin will be there. If Taemin and I meet I will pull Taemin’s attention away from Kibum, at least in part, and not an insignificant part. When we are all here together and Kibum can have Taemin by his side, hold his hand, in his bed, it won’t be so difficult. He’s going to a stranger’s home, now. And he’ll need Taemin’s love and attention to endure that. For now, Taemin needs to just be the boy he loves. Not the soul bond of the alpha who is about to be his mate.”

 

Junghee stares into the dark, Eunsook’s fingers still linked in her own and tapping loosely against the bed. “You always have the best intentions,” she murmurs. The rest of her words are left unspoken, absorbed by the darkness of the room . She leans her head back against Eunsook’s chest and closes her eyes.

 

~

 

Kibum wanders through the omega bonding shop behind Minho’s dam with his eyes catching on every bonded omega throat that passes.

 

The collar Minho’s dam wears is thick and of rare metal, an opulent band to show status. The one Taemin’s dam wears, he had noted on reflection, is a simple black leather band. The collars of the omegas they pass are a veritable spectrum of color and shades. Mostly neutral, though a few are vibrant in tone.

 

And his throat will join theirs within the week. He rubs at his neck absently, watching and wondering. Did they choose their bond band? Was it chosen for them? The hand at his neck drops and he swallows, nodding mutely at the question Minho’s dam poses that he didn’t hear.

 

After their trip, at their evening meal, he musters up the courage to ask the question that had kept him distracted while they had shopped.

 

“Eunsook will bring it,” he’s told, Minho’s sire answering with an uncharacteristically bright smile.

 

“I’m sure it will be handsome,” Minho’s dam adds cheerfully.

 

Kibum smiles weakly and nods as well, turning his eyes back to his meal and keeping his gaze away from Minho who he knows is watching him with concern. As soon as is acceptable, he asks to be excused from the table.

 

The pathway between the walls of his bedroom are traversed mindlessly, a thumb pressed to his lips as the light from the summer evening sun slowly fades at his window.

 

He had met Eunsook five days ago and they had told him four days ago that his Ceremony of Bonding would be in twelve days. His heart had dropped and his mouth grown dry, a shock that left him uncharacteristically speechless and he had been reduced to a nod of acknowledgment as his only reply to the news. When he finally found his voice and had asked to speak to Eunsook he had been told that they would have plenty of time to do so after the ceremony. Every day since then had been spent in a daze, the sudden loss of fourteen days to prepare for bonding, dropping from twenty-six to twelve in a flash, was setting his nerves on edge.

 

Furthering his agony, his time with Taemin was running short and being censored. No more holding hands in the dark, no more stolen kisses, no more breathless whispers of the other’s name. Their time now was spent out in the open where every move could be seen by a guardian whose eyes never seemed to waiver: Minho and Jongin were no longer trusted.

 

He lies down on his bed. It has been three days since he has seen Taemin. They have assured him that he will see him again in two when Minho goes on a visit to Jongin. Even they are being punished, he thinks ruefully, closing his eyes. When he sees his love again it will be with only seven days left until he leaves and he does not know how many days they will be allowed together in-between.

 

There is a part of him that is glad to visit the Lee household again for other reasons. The only omega he has to speak with on the matter of bonding is Minho’s dam and he has been too eager to see Kibum bonded for Kibum to feel at ease asking any of the questions pressing at his thoughts.

 

Taemin’s dam, however, Minjung, has always been kind, ever since they met at her son’s Ceremony of Intention. He has thought of speaking to her, of asking her the questions that burn in his mind: What is a heat like with an alpha? What should he do? What is it like to be bonded? How should he behave? What is Eunsook like? So many questions. He hesitates, though. As warm as she is, and kind, she is also Jinki’s mate and he is afraid of what it might mean if he speaks to her on such matters. Or of something else. He is not sure what it is, frozen by fear and indecision, so confused by where he now finds himself, by how fast everything is suddenly moving.

 

He swallows and takes a shaky breath knowing that within a month he will have an alpha to guide him in all things, he won’t have to worry like this ever again.

 

~

 

Eunsook gratefully accepts the offer Minjung extends to assist her in finding bonding apparel. It would be what her own dam would have helped her with on such a day if she were still living, and if anyone were to take her place it feels only right that the dam of one of her Intendeds be the one. It means Minjung traveling the many hours to Eunsook’s home, against Eunsook’s protestations, and the only relief to Eunsook’s mind is that at least this time her home will be prepared for the arrival of the guardian of her Intended.

 

Upon Minjung’s arrival, Eunsook finds herself in the omega’s tight embrace almost immediately.

 

“Thank you for letting me come,” she says with a bright smile when she finally pulls away. “It has been too long since I have had a chance to visit the city.” She turns and takes in a deep breath, grinning as she takes in the view. Her eyes stop on Eunsook’s garden and the orchard that sits behind it. “It looks so good!” she exclaims, hurrying toward the fenced in patch. “You have inhereted your guardians’ talents to be sure!”

 

“It is only a small garden,” Eunsook protests modestly, blushing proudly as she watches Minjung walk around each patch of earth..

 

Minjung shakes her head. “It is a beautiful garden.” She looks up then with a mischevious smile. “You should plant some flowers though. Not everything needs to have an immediate purpose. Some things are just meant to bring joy by being seen.”

 

Eunsook smiles and nods, shrugging a shoulder. “Perhaps.”

 

When they step inside, Minjung’s eyes widen in amazement. “I am still so impressed that you have done all this on your own. I am so proud of you,” she says with bright eyes, looking around. “My son will be very happy here.” She turns then, her eyes still bright. “Kibum as well.” Eunsook bows in thanks and hopes that Minjung’s words turn true. After a quick evening meal and a conversation that lasts until Minjung’s eyes cannot stay open any longer, she heads to bed and Eunsook stays awake another hour, sitting on her sofa and thinking.

 

The next morning, they head to the alpha bonding shop where Minjung immediately lights up and Eunsook immediately wants to leave.

 

“What about this?” Minjung asks, a black silk suit with silver threads held up so that it spills down her front.

 

“Yes,” Eunsook answers quickly, reaching out a hand to take the suit. “That was simple. Now we can leave.”

 

“Wait!” Minjung cries, laughing as she pulls the suit back just out of Eunsook’s reach. “You must try it on first.”

 

“What if it doesn’t fit?” Eunsook asks, looking down at the suit with a sudden sense of dread, imagining an afternoon of trying on suit after suit.

 

“Then we’ll have it tailored,” Minjung answers calmly.

 

“In less than a week?” Eunsook points out. Minjung nods confidently and hands over the suit.

 

“They’ll be able to do it, I’m sure. Now try it on.”

 

Eunsook stumbles her way through the racks to the garment rooms. A smiling clerk leads her into a small room generously decorated with a plush sofa and an array of mirrors. Minjung waits outside, leaning up against the door and humming a song quietly.

 

“It looks great!” she cries when Eunsook emerges. Eunsook nods as she looks down at the suit.

 

“Yes” she replies quietly. To her relief, it fits perfectly. “There is only one other thing I need,” she remarks, looking back up. “It won’t need to be fitted so we are now all but finished.”

 

“Then you are ready?” Minjung asks, a frown that isn’t a frown on her face.

 

Worry, Eunsook realizes belatedly. “Yes,” she answers, lifting up the suit in her hand. “I have nearly everything I need.”

 

Minjung nods. “Have you a bond band for Kibum yet?”

 

Eunsook lowers the suit and shakes her head. “It seems wrong to pick one for him without him there to give an opinion.”

 

Minjung sighs. “Do so. And then, when some time has passed, you can gift him a new one, one he has chosen for himself.”

 

Eunsook nods and takes a breath, looking around the shop until she sees the last thing she needs for her own bonding suit. “There,” she says, pointing over to the display. “That is what I need. And then we can go to the bond band shop and find a collar for Kibum.”

 

Minjung follows where her finger is pointing. When she sees what Eunsook is pointing at, she looks at the alpha and sighs again. “Are you certain you want to wear that?” The mask glitters in the afternoon sun and Minjung wonders when the alpha Intended to her son will finally show him her face.

 

“Yes,” Eunsook answers quickly, already moving to the display.

 

Minjung follows silently and watches Eunsook add the shimmering silver mask to her pile. They walk to the register and Eunsook places her palm against the payment screen as her purchases are placed into a black box with an elastic band.

 

 

 

“There are so many,” Eunsook says with a frown, looking at one of a dozen display cases that hold collars of varying colors and widths, materials and fasteners. “You know him better than I; what do you think he would like?”

 

“It does not really matter what he would like,” Minjung muses, “rather what would be easiest on him. And if your concern is that everything is being rushed then perhaps what would be easiest is something simple, almost plain. Something that won’t draw too much attention from strangers and that won’t take too long to adapt to wearing.”

 

“Like yours,” Eunsook says, looking over at Minjung’s collar, “only thinner, I think.”

 

“Perhaps.”

 

Eunsook looks through the collars purposefully now, an image clear in her mind. Suddenly the perfect collar appears and she nearly claps in delight and relief. Black, thin, covered lock in the back, adjustable; everything that Minjung had suggested. “There,” she says, pointing. “That one.”

 

Minjung nods as she appraises the collar. “Yes,” she says, slowly, “yes, I think that might be it. Yes. Well done,” she adds, turning to Eunsook with a proud smile.

 

Eunsook grins and stands fully, calling over the clerk behind the display case and pointing to the collar that had caught her eye. “This one,” she says firmly. For the first time in days, Eunsook feels at ease as she watches the collar being placed in a small pink striped box, her palm against the payment screen.

 

When Minjung leaves the next morning, it’s with a hug that lasts nearly a minute and a farewell that is nearly a blessing. “I will see you soon,” she calls from her vehicle, waving.

 

Eunsook waves back, watching as the dam of her Intended disappears down her drive.

 

~

 

Kibum sits in the shallow basin with his hands beside his bare thighs grateful for the opaqueness and warmth of the milky water the omegas surrounding him have filled it with. There are five: One elder, one Avowed from the heat house, a priestess, Minho’s dam, and Taemin’s dam.

 

Minho’s dam stands in as his own and Taemin’s stands in as his betrothed’s, though he doesn’t quite understand why Jinki and Minjung have been so involved in his bonding with Eunsook. He assumes it is because her next bonding will be with Taemin.

 

Each dam pulls one of his arms out of the water, gently stroking his skin with soft, damp towels perfumed with spices. Next, a cistern of warm water pours over his shoulders and he knows what is to follow. The braid his hair has lain in is unraveled and a comb strokes gently through the unbound strands.

 

A glint of sunlight off of metal pricks at the outskirts of his eyesight and he grabs at Minjung’s wrist before he can think and stares into her eyes beseechingly.

 

“Yes?” she asks, clearly startled by the action.

 

 

“I…” He takes a breath for courage and keeps his eyes on the omega he thinks might actually acquiesce to his request. “I would like my friends to be here for this.”

 

A smile softens her face and she shakes her head as she pats his cheek. “Alphas are not permitted, Kibum. Minho will be waiting for you in the outer chamber. You can see him when the ceremony is finished.” The matter settled in her mind, she begins to pull away.

 

Panicked, he tightens his grip. “My omega friends,” he says urgently. “Jongin and…Taemin.” Her brows begin to rise and he rushes on. “They are of Eunsook’s clan. And also…Intended?”

 

The uniqueness of Taemin’s relationships with Kibum and Eunsook makes the last statement a question because even he’s not sure if that’s a strong argument for Taemin’s presence. Minjung’s stare doesn’t help to clear up the matter and he keeps hold of her wrist for as long as she’ll allow it.

 

Slowly, she nods and turns to Minho’s dam. “Eunsook’s Intended should be here as well, do you not think?”

 

Every step from this moment on lies in the hands of the clan of the omega and Kibum turns to the man with wide eyed hope. He knows that Minho’s dam is kind, but he also knows that Minho’s dam respects Jinki’s authority and would not take action he believed Jinki would disapprove of.

 

And he does not believe Jinki would approve of the action he is asking to be taken.

 

The omega’s eyes are narrowed but there’s the slightest curl of a smile on his lips and to Kibum’s surprise he thinks he sees pride in the man’s eyes. “If you think it best, Minjung, I must agree.”

 

There’s a sudden rustling to Kibum’s side as Minjung murmurs instructions that the Avowed omega is quick to follow. He breathes out a thanks to Minho’s dam who only nods.

 

Taemin’s hand in his own is such a relief that it takes every bit of willpower within Kibum not to cry. Their foreheads lean together and it’s too intimate for such a public viewing, so many strange omegas are bearing witness. Jongin does his best to cover them with a hug that embraces them both.

 

With a hand of each brother in each one of his, Kibum stares at the wall as a pair of steel scissors cut away the black locks that had grown to nearly his waist in his years as an unbound omega.

 

So many nights and afternoons had been spent with Taemin absentmindedly getting his fingers twisted up in braids that they’d both had to struggle to unwind. Designs he’d created himself had crowned his head and been complimented by strangers. And it all was now falling to the floor.

 

When next he saw his reflection his hair would be no longer than his jaw, a physical display of his bond in addition to the collar around his neck and the bite mark at his wrist. In five years he’d be allowed to grow it out again, sooner if Eunsook gave permission. For now, though, Kim Kibum will be shorn.

 

 

Darkness envelopes the bedroom, only a stream of light from a half moon pressing itself against the melancholy. Everything Kibum owns has been taken away, gone to Eunsook’s home. His home as of tomorrow. He laughs quietly when he hears the sliding door of the back deck open. He had left it unlocked and Minho had made certain that no alarms would sound when Taemin broke through the perimeter.

 

His love slips into his bed and holds him tight from behind, kissing his bare neck that now lies naked beneath hair cut short. He grasps at the fingers at his waist and takes in every breath as deeply as he can, imprinting the other’s scent into his memory.

 

They lie in the dark, in the quiet, together for one last night for as long as they can. Kibum gasps when he feels the sharp bite of Taemin’s teeth at the juncture of his shoulder and neck, just enough to burn but not enough to break skin.

 

“Mine,” his love whispers, and Kibum nods.

 

He rolls over to look at the eyes that glow, the sign from a year ago that a bond had formed between them. He traces a finger down the other’s profile, tapping at the mole at the side of his love’s nose. “Mine,” he whispers back.

 

“There is still time to run away,” Taemin teases with a smile. “We would make beautiful corpses.”

 

Kibum chuckles and leans in for a kiss. “We would.” He looks at Taemin’s shining eyes, the hope and love and anxiety mixed into the darkness of night. “We will make even more beautiful bond mates.”

 

Taemin scoffs and grabs Kibum’s hand, his thumb running over the other’s knuckles. “I will miss you.”

 

Kibum swallows thickly. “There won’t be enough time for you to notice that I’m gone.”

 

“I notice that you’re gone every moment that you’re not by my side.”

 

Kibum only nods because the truth was the same for himself and he doesn’t know how to express it any better. He leans in and kisses Taemin again, a hand to his jaw before he pulls him in tight, clutching him as closely as he can, breathing in the scent of his love and his warmth, demanding every last moment fate will allow them to be together.

 

~

 

Kibum stands in a tiny chamber with only Minho by his side waiting to be guided to the altar and to Eunsook. The veil that covers his face is thin but dark and flutters with his breaths. He keeps his face turned to the floor.

 

“You’ll get to be with Taemin. That is what is important.”

 

Minho’s voice is deep and warm. Kibum nods, the reminder that calms the anxiety that peaks whenever he thinks too hard of what is about to happen.

 

“What should I do?” he asks abruptly, eyes still on the ground.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“With…an alpha…in…” His cheeks burn and he’s grateful for the veil that covers his face.

 

There’s a long pause and when Minho’s voice resumes it is both quiet and tender. “Submit. Just submit, Kibum. Remember what she said? Why she is doing this?”

 

“For love,” Kibum answers softly, remembering Eunsook’s words. “To protect my love bond with Taemin.”

 

“Do you believe her?”

 

Kibum stops to think, to remember the alpha and her gentle smile and the warmth of her voice. “Yes, I do.”

 

“Then someone like that, someone who is willing to take on the extra responsibility of an omega they’re not Covenanted with is not someone to be afraid of, I think. Even through a rut. It will be scary, but it will pass. Just submit, Kibum. You can fight any other time. We both know you will.” He says the last part with a teasing smile and though his heart still beats hollow, Kibum manages a small smile of his own.

 

His smile falls and his heart skips a beat as an Avowed omega enters the chamber to tell them that it is time.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~Next chapter up on the 6th~
> 
> Everything has felt like Act/Scene in design &, in that sense, this is the end of Act I.


	5. A Claim of Bonding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kibum makes no refusal.  
> (Kibum POV)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> eunsook's veil: onthighsbelongtotaemin.tumblr.com/post/171879962236  
> kibum's appearance inspired by: onthighsbelongtotaemin.tumblr.com/post/166113251708/sataeminism-just-a-holy-fool

Minho’s footsteps are muffled by the soft carpet of the altar. Kibum follows silently behind, eyes on the ground as his gown swishes gently with each step. He listens to his name be announced by his cousin, his best friend, one he suddenly realizes he will only see again once in the coming six months. The urge to grasp at Minho’s hand is stifled and instead, he clutches his fingers tightly into fists.

 The Time of Solitude; the three months after the Ceremony of Bonding where an omega and their alpha cut ties with their friends and clan to forge a new life together. One heat will occur in that time, the hope of young conceived, and then the bonded pair will again show their faces to the friends and guardians, elders and cousins they left behind. After today, he will see Minho only once more, at his friend’s Ceremony of Bonding, after which Minho will be restricted by his own Time of Solitude. Unlike Kibum, however, he will be with a bond mate he already knows and loves.

 The priestess now calls to him and at that he looks up, catching Minho’s eye through the thin veil. Minho is smiling encouragingly, the faintest hint of a nod as he waits for Kibum to move. He does so, hesitantly, carefully in the flowing gown and dark veil. The priestess’ smile is warm and inviting with a hand that reaches out to guide Kibum to where he is expected to stand.

 Eunsook kneels at the base of the altar, the same as Minho had done all those years ago. The night Kibum first met Taemin. To his surprise, a silver veil clings to her face and shimmers in the sunlight pouring in through the temple windows. Silver threads woven through her black suit similarly shimmer, in all giving her the appearance of a star sparkling in a night sky.

 “Kibum of the clan Kim,” the priestess begins, her voice as warm as her smile. “Eunsook of the clan Lee has accepted you as her Intended. As such, today we wait with anticipation to witness a claim of bonding made by the alpha. As the omega, it is now within your rights to refuse such a claim. Do you now make such a refusal?” Stunned, Kibum merely shakes his head, unprepared for such a question.

 “We must hear your answer, young one,” the priestess says with a laugh echoed by the audience. It is only then that Kibum notices how many are in attendance. The whole village, it seems, has come to witness. More even. Taemin’s face suddenly appears among the crowd and again he loses his words.

 His love’s face is soft, yet sad. It is what they both want, after all, just not how they want it. Nine months apart with Kibum alone with a stranger. Not at all how they want it.

 “Kibum?”

 “I make no refusal,” he answers quietly, eyes still on Taemin.

 The priestess nods in satisfaction and turns to where Eunsook still kneels.

 “Eunsook of the clan Lee. You have accepted Kibum of the clan Kim as your Intended. Do you now make a claim of bonding and accept him as your mate?” Taemin turns then and Kibum does as well. Between his veil and hers, Kibum cannot see her face and he wonders what she’s thinking in these final moments.

 The silence of the temple causes her words to ring even louder when she answers, “I do.”

 “Then so it shall be.”

 A cistern is brought out with an empty bowl beside it. Kibum first is directed to dip his hands into the warm water within the cistern and pour it into the empty bowl, Eunsook to follow.

After, Kibum takes Eunsook’s hands into his own and bathes them as well as he can with trembling fingers, breathing uneasily when Eunsook does the same, taking care to be gentle when she reaches his wrists. His eyes flicker between the bowl and where her eyes might be behind her mask, mostly staying at the bowl, and thinking about how this is the first time they have touched.

 The priestess then rounds them three times in blessing for longevity, young, and contentment. A bundle of flora burns in her hand as the blessing is sung in a voice that is neither beautiful nor unattractive.

 The collar he had fretted about and never seen is now presented. Simple, black, elegant in its own way. He stays still as Eunsook lifts his veil only slightly, only enough to slip her hands beneath it, not enough for his face to be revealed. He feels the warmth of her fingers at the back of his neck, hears the clasp and then the chill as the veil flutters when her hands disappear again.

 The collar is light against his throat.

 They are then made to stand to face each other, the crowds' eyes upon them, just as Minho and Jongin had.

 “Eunsook of the clan Lee. You have made a claim of bonding with Kibum of the clan Kim and accepted him as your mate. Now mark him as such so that those who have not witnessed your words will know as much by your deed.”

 Kibum flinches as Eunsook draws near, nearly taking a step back. He bites his lip when she takes his arm in her hands and turns away when he feels her teeth against his skin. The flesh is ripped & he gasps in pain, the sedative in her teeth taking longer than he expected to numb his wrist. It happens, though, too slowly for his liking, but at least it happens.

 Finally, Eunsook pulls away, an imprint of her teeth deep red on Kibum’s wrist & only the marks on the inside above his veins will stay. He stares at it as the priestess continues on in the ceremony.

 It is the end, the very end. There are no more steps to take. Kibum is now the bonded omega of Lee Eunsook & it is in this moment that he leaves the only life he has ever known & begins a new one wholly unfamiliar. A new one with a stranger.

 “Eunsook of the clan Lee. Kibum once of the clan Kim. Mates now bonded before witnesses. Go now. Those who love you will miss you these next three months.”

 Kibum’s eyes immediately search for Taemin’s finding them already watching him from the crowd. They watch each other as long as possible, until Kibum can no longer stand unmoving on the altar.

 Eunsook is bowing to the priestess and he quickly follows suit. One last glance at his love, and then Kibum follows his alpha out of the temple.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if everything goes as expected, next chapter should be up on the 13th.


	6. Whilde Osern

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The collar he had seen in Eunsook’s hands and felt be fastened around his neck now sits stark against his throat. He reaches up and watches in the mirror as his fingers touch it: The material is smooth, black. They reach back and feel at the fastener, feel the smoothness of the adjusters, and move forward again to rest at his chest just beneath.
> 
> “I hope it’s alright,” he hears Eunsook say quietly from the other side of the cab. “I wasn’t sure what to get so I went with something simple.” Kibum doesn’t answer, turning his head first to the left and then to the right. 
> 
> It’s not just the collar that has caught his eye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kibum POV exclusively.
> 
> Kibum & Eunsook getting to know each other a little better & learning that they have more in common than they think.   
> Out in the woods.

“How are you doing?” Eunsook asks once they are out of the temple and under the warm afternoon sun. Once, as they had followed an Avowed down the corridor, she had looked back at him, her eyes still hidden beneath her mask.

  


Now they are outside and his veil and gown are billowing gently in a breeze.

  


“I’m fine,” he answers quietly. The Avowed bows and the door closes behind them. It is only then that Eunsook removes her mask.

  


“We are alone now,” she says, taking in a deep breath of fresh air, “you can take your veil off if you would like.”

  


“I can wait,” Kibum answers, suddenly self-conscious. He looks around the yard. There is a singular, black truck parked nearby. All other vehicles are hidden behind a high wooden fence that is guarded on the opposite side by an alpha who will only open it when Eunsook asks them to.

  


“Alright.” She pats at the hair that was knotted tightly at the back of her head while she wore the mask. Halfway to the truck, it falls in waves down her back and she’s shaking it loose as she opens the cab door for him.

  


“Thank you,” he says meekly, holding his gown awkwardly with one hand as he climbs in.

  


“No need for formalities, Kibum,” she says with a laugh. She waits until he is settled before closing the door. 

  


He watches out of the corner of his eye as she walks around the truck, turning his gaze to his hands folded in his lap when she opens her own door. With ease, she climbs in, fastens her safety belt, grabs a key from the visor above, and turns the engine over. Within minutes they are a mile away.

  


“How is your wrist?” she asks with a glance, concern lacing her tone. 

  


He looks down noting that the color and form of the mark has not changed. “It is the same.” 

  


“Does it hurt?” 

  


He shakes his head, his veil weaving back and forth. “No. It only hurt for a second or two.”

  


“I’m sorry.” 

  


He nods. They travel on in silence, Kibum eventually looking up and out the window at the passing scenery.

  


They’ve left the city where Minho lives and are now on a road he does not recognize. He actually doesn’t know where they’re going. He doesn’t know where she lives. Where he will live. He should ask.

  


“We’re stopping in the woods outside of Halows. That is where we will stay the night.”

  


“The night?”

  


“Yes,” Eunsook says with an amused sigh. “It is both tradition and convenience that finds us camping this evening. Alphas historically showed their worth of making a bond claim by protecting the omega through the night in the woods. Similarly, it is far too late in the day for us to drive and there is nowhere on the route for us to stop: My home is in Whilde Osern.”

  


“That’s the city, though,” Kibum says in wonder. “That’s…that’s a true city.” 

  


Eunsook laughs. “As opposed to a false city?”

  


Kibum looks down at the pool of veil in his lap & mumbles, “Minho’s city is much smaller.”

  


“’Minho’s city’?” she asks curiously, “Not yours?”

  


The veil makes a soft swishing sound as he shakes his head. “My village was smaller than Taemin’s.”

  


“Ah,” she says, seemingly to understand. “So you did not grow up in the same area as either of them?”

  


Kibum glances at her in surprise. “Did the Chois not tell you about me?”

  


“They did,” she concedes. “A bit. However, I would like to hear it from you.”

  


“No,” he says, looking back down at his hands. "My grand dam and I moved there two years ago.”

  


“Why?”

  


“I..what?” 

  


“Why did you move?” He shrugs, the veil shifting beneath the movement.

  


“She wanted to be nearer to her friend. She was cousin to Minho’s grand dam and they were raised together. She was quite elderly, elderly even when she began raising me. And I think…” he stops, tilting his head as a connection he’d never made suddenly clicks.

  


Eunsook glances over with a raised brow. “What?”

  


“I think she might have known she would not live another year. I never thought of it before.”

  


“And she wanted to make sure that you were already settled with family?”

  


Kibum blinks back a tear and the veil shifts as his arm lifts, a thumb pressed to his lip. “Yes.”

  


“Did she know of Taemin?” 

  


Eunsook’s tone is warm, gentle, and curious in a way that is almost hopeful, as though it is her want that Kibum’s grand dam knew that Kibum had found love with Taemin. And it is Eunsook’s right to ask, her right to know: She is his alpha. Yet she is also a stranger and Taemin has been his and his alone for so long. Their bond has been a secret kept closely hidden, one that they instinctively knew not to reveal and yet here an alpha is asking him to speak of it. The duality of instincts, submission to his alpha, and wariness of a foreign alpha, have him confused and he shifts self-consciously. “She knew of him, I don’t know that she knew what he is to me.” He smiles, blushing beneath his veil. “Though I did speak of him enough that she may have suspected.”

  


“Hmm.” He looks over and is pleased to see that she is smiling. “What else can you tell me about her?” Kibum freezes. Eunsook will need to know in time why he was raised by his grand dam, but he does not want to discuss it now, not when everything is still so unfamiliar between them.

  


“Her garden was beautiful,” he answers truthfully, proudly. “Every color you can imagine was at one time was planted and bloomed there.”

  


“A skilled gardener?”

  


“One of the best.”

  


“And did you inherit any of her talents?” 

  


Kibum laughs as he thinks of how he and Taemin had compared horticultural thumbs and his was decidedly green while Taemin’s was most certainly black. “All of them.”

  


“Then we will have to get you your own spikes and wires. We can share tools.”

  


“You garden?” Kibum asks in surprise. 

  


Eunsook laughs. “I do. My dam did and she taught me. Not flora so much. Just some vegetables for autumn, berries in the summer. That sort of thing. I have a few fruit trees as well.”

  


“We won’t have to share gardens, will we?” Kibum asks seriously. 

  


Eunsook bursts out laughing, looking over at his veiled face. “No, no. I…no, we won’t have to share gardens. You can have your own plot.” 

  


“Good.” He can hear her stifling a chuckle. They ride in silence a while, the passing scenery turning from city sidewalks to small town roads.

  


“Are you sure you want to continue wearing your veil?” Eunsook asks in concern.

  


“Oh!” Kibum exclaims, surprised. “I had forgotten about it.” He lifts the veil over his face and lets it fall behind him. It is attached to a small crown that Minho’s dam had pinned to his shorn hair. A flip of the visor before him and a brief struggle with the crown, and soon Kibum’s head and face are veil-free. He stops with the crown in his lap, eyes staring at his reflection.

  


The collar he had seen in Eunsook’s hands and felt be fastened around his neck now sits stark against his throat. He reaches up and watches in the mirror as his fingers touch it: The material is smooth, black. They reach back and feel at the fastener, feel the smoothness of the adjusters, and move forward again to rest at his chest just beneath.

  


“I hope it’s alright,” he hears Eunsook say quietly from the other side of the cab. “I wasn’t sure what to get so I went with something simple.” Kibum doesn’t answer, turning his head first to the left and then to the right. 

  


It’s not just the collar that has caught his eye. He has been kept away from mirrors since the night of his ceremonial shorning. Only twice has he seen his reflection, neither times very long. Now he sees his face as it is with hair less than a quarter of its original length and his throat with a black collar that signifies to anyone who cannot see his wrist that he has an alpha who has claimed him.

  


Suddenly, he begins to cry.

  


Immediately, the truck is stopped and one of Eunsook’s warm hands is at his back. “I’m so sorry, Kibum.” 

  


He shakes his head and bites his lip, turning to look at her. “It’s not you. It’s not the collar. The collar is perfect. It will go with anything. I just wish they hadn’t cut my hair.”

Eunsook lets out a long, deep breath and nods. “I see. Well I…I’m glad that at least I haven’t made it worse by buying a bad collar.” Kibum shakes his head again. Her hand rests on his back as he continues to cry, embarrassed now at his reaction. He rubs his eyes and takes a deep breath, feels the warmth of her hand disappear as he straightens. “Are you ready for me to start driving again?” He nods. She nods as well as she starts the truck back up and turns onto the road.

  


They ride in silence. Soon, he falls asleep.

  


Kibum wakes up to the truck bumping against something on the road. The truck hits another bump causing an unseen box of metallic supplies to ring from somewhere in the back. Kibum’s arms fold so tightly around his waist that it’s beginning to ache in his biceps: It’s nearly a relief when Eunsook turns off the main road and takes a path that ends quickly in a clearing with a stunning view of the valley below. 

  


The truck stops and the engine whirs down and her door opens and closes followed by the door of the seats behind her opening and closing. Kibum stays where he’s seated until she tells him to get out. When she comes back, she tugs out a canvas tent and then leaves him again. He can see her setting it up on the ground and so he quickly turns behind him to unlock his safety belt and open his door. He watches her work and he picks up the next peg she’s reaching for, handing it to her wordlessly.

  


“This won’t take long,” she says, sticking it in the ground, “and then you can change out of your gown.” Kibum looks down, surprised to realize that he hadn’t, until she’d said something, even thought about what he would be wearing while they were in the woods.

  


“I don’t-”

  


“I know,” she interrupts. “I do. They’re in the back of the truck. A pair of boots too,” she adds with a little laugh. “I don’t think those slippers will keep your feet warm for very long. And they won’t hold much traction in the dirt.” When the peg is in the ground she grabs another and moves to another corner. The tent is small and she is right: It won’t take very long.

  


He watches in admiration. Her hair gleams in the sunlight and the silver threads in her suit sparkle. He sees that her feet are encased in slippers very similar to his own.

  


“How do you know to do that?” he asks curiously.

  


“The Hunts,” she answers, as though it were obvious. He blushes, embarrassed. Of course. He himself had never been. 

  


“There,” she says, the final peg in place. He nods appreciatively. “You change clothes and I will set up camp.” He nods again and follows her to the truck. A pair of pants, a long-sleeved black shirt, and a heavy olive-green jacket are handed to him. “You may not need the jacket now, but as the evening cools you will be grateful for it.” A pair of thick socks and heavy boots are added to the pile.

  


The inside of the tent smells of materials he is unfamiliar with. His nose scrunches at the scent. The gown is not easy to unbind, it was not made to be undone by his own hands, but he struggles alone until Eunsook’s voice is heard just outside the entrance asking if he is alright. He waits until she asks again to answer.

  


“The gown is…unyielding.” He hears her laugh and it’s as awkward as he feels.

  


“Would you like help or…?” 

  


He does. Just not hers. “Yes.”

  


The door to the tent slowly opens and Eunsook’s head emerges. “What is-”

He turns quickly, his back to her, looking over his shoulder. “Bands. It’s tied together in bands. I cannot unbind them all. Not enough.”

  


“Ah.” He turns his eyes forward and keeps them at the wall of the tent while her fingers tug at the ribbons keeping the gown on his body. Abruptly, it becomes loose enough to fall forward and he grabs it to his chest. “There,” she says softly, stepping away. “It has yielded.” 

  


He looks over his shoulder, murmuring a quick, “Thanks” and watching as she disappears through the door.

  


When he emerges with his gown over one arm and his slippers in his hand, there are two purple canvas chairs set up not quite next to each other, though not quite facing each other either. In front of them sits a trowel and a small pile of firewood.

  


“I brought it with me,” Eunsook says, pointing to the wood, a pile of clothes in her own hands. “I didn’t want to have to search for it while we were here.” 

  


“Good,” Kibum remarks. “I would have been of no help on such a task.” 

  


She laughs as she passes him. “There is a bag in the cab for you to put your gown and shoes in.” He finds it easily and then hurries back to take a seat in one of the chairs.

  


When Eunsook emerges her hair is bound loosely and her clothes are similar to his. It crosses his mind then that she may have brought along pieces from her own wardrobe to lend him until they arrive at her home and he can have his own clothes again. He leans in and smells at the collar of his shirt but can’t be sure; everything smells of Eunsook after being in her truck.

  


When her own bonding clothes are tucked away, she returns and kneels on the ground, taking up the trowel in hand and beginning to dig a hole beside the pile of wood. Kibum watches in fascination. “What are you doing?”

  


“Building a fire pit. A simple one, we won’t need it for more than a few hours. I just wanted to get it done.”

  


“Like planting a garden.”

  


“I suppose so,” she answers with a nod of her head. “Yes, that’s a good way of looking at it. The firewood are the plants. They even have their own fragrance once they bloom. Hmm. I never thought of it like that. So you’re a creative type.” The smile she flashes him is amused and pleased. 

  


He blinks, flustered. “I…suppose so.”

  


“What other things do you like to do, other than gardening?”

  


“I like music. And…decorating. Sort of. Colors. I like colors.”

  


“Oh,” Eunsook says, her tone laced with disappointment. Kibum’s fingers flutter to his collar as her eyes fall to his chest. “Then a black shirt was not the best choice.”

  


“It could have been better,” he teases, hand falling to his lap.

  


“Could it have been worse?” she asks, looking up. “Truthfully.”

  


“Yes, much,” he answers quickly.

  


“Good.” She turns back to her work. “You can ask me anything. I’m sure you have questions. I know I do. And there are no guardians now to keep us from asking them. They said we would have plenty of time to speak. Now is that time,” she says with a laugh.

  


“What do you do as a trade?” he asks curiously.

  


“Architect. I design buildings. I build them myself on occasion. The house I live in. That we will live in. And another, much smaller one on the river.”

  


“You have two homes?” Kibum asks in surprise.

  


“Yes,” she answers shyly. “The river is visible from the main house but is too far away to travel by foot and back. It is nice to spend an evening there and easier to have a home to spend it in. And more pleasant than this,” she adds, gesturing at the tent. “There. Finished.” She puts down the trowel and takes a seat in the empty chair. “What else do you want to know?”

  


Kibum curls his fingers in his lap, fighting the urge to press a thumb to his lip. “Why were you not bonded already? Did you not ever have a Covenant?”

  


“I…that’s complicated.” Eunsook’s face is inscrutable and Kibum’s fists tighten in worry. “I met the omega when we were very young. They were only four. We were put into Covenant, I agreed to Intention, and we were to meet in a few months to prepare for bonding.”

  


He nods. “What happened?” 

  


She shrugs with a smile. “They fell in love.”

  


“Oh,” Kibum murmurs. “I’m sorry.”

  


“Don’t be,” Eunsook says with a soft laugh, eyes turning to the view of the valley below. “We had only met the one time. Everything else had been done by screens, no ceremonies. My intention was to give them freedom to choose and they did. They’re very happy now.”

  


“So…you would have been bonded with a stranger either way?”

  


“Yes. I would have had more time to meet with them,” she says with a shrug, “but this way I’m able to keep a love bond in tact.” She turns to him then with a smile. “A fair trade, I think.”

  


“Thank you,” Kibum says earnestly. 

  


Eunsook nods. “You can ask me anything, Kibum. And I do want to know more about you. I want you to know, though, that I won’t ever ask about Taemin. And it’s not that I don’t want to hear about him, it’s that I want to know you before I meet him. We only have a little time together before he comes. And I will have so many others to tell me stories about him. I will not have that with you. So I will not ask questions about Taemin, though I will listen if you tell me stories. I only wanted to explain early on.” Kibum nods, biting his lip. He had wondered a little how much she would want to know and how much he would be forced to share. He didn’t want to share at all. “May I ask a question now?”

  


Kibum shakes his head in surprise. “I…are alphas supposed to ask permission?” 

  


Eunsook laughs. “If I am in charge of everything than I am the one who determines whether I am allowed to ask permission and I say I am. So in answer to your question, yes.”

  


“Oh.” He pauses, not sure what she’s just said, but certain that he’s supposed to say yes as well if her teasing smile is of any measure. “Then yes.”

  


She leans forward conspiratorially, an elbow propped up on one knee, chin resting on a fist. “Can you swim?”

  


“Can I…yes,” Kibum answers in confusion, glancing around the thick forest surrounding them.

  


“Good. It’s too cold now, but between the spring equinox and the summer solstice it should be warm enough to go to the river. Do you enjoy hiking?”

  


“Oh.” Relief and anxiety flood over him in equal measure and it takes him a moment to answer her second question. “I…no.”

  


“Then I will have to go by myself.”

  


Unsure if the way she shrugs in resignation is truly as sad as it seems, he chokes out, “I…can try.”

  


Eunsook’s eyes widen. “I was joking.”

  


“Oh.” Kibum laughs nervously as Eunsook smiles.

  


“What did you think of the ceremony?” is her next question.

  


Kibum takes a deep breath. “I did not expect so many to be in attendance.”

  


“Did you not?” Eunsook answers with raised brow. “The Chois seem to care for you greatly. It is no wonder they invited so many.”

  


“The Chois?” Kibum asks in surprise.

  


“Did you not notice their seating? Oh, of course.” She shakes her head in embarrassment. “Why would you notice such a thing? I’m afraid I did not have time to invite my own friends and kin, not that I have many beyond Jinki and Minjung. Who they invited sat on one side and the Chois the other. It was not too unevenly split, but it was clear that the Chois did not hold back in their invitations. You will see when Minho is bonded to Jongin. I would not be surprised if there is an equally large gathering.”

  


“It did seem similar to when they were made Intended,” Kibum murmurs, eyes shifting to the ground. “You are right, though. I only noticed when they laughed.” Eunsook chuckles then and Kibum’s eyes rise in mortification. “Not you too!”

  


“No, I did not laugh. In truth I am amazed that I was able to answer as well as I did.”

  


“Did…” Kibum pauses, tilting his head to the side to think of the question he wants to ask. “Did they prepare you for the ceremony? For the questions and steps?”

  


“There was no one to give me direction, I have been to bonding ceremonies before,” Eunsook answers with concern. “Have you not?”

  


“No.” Kibum shakes his head sadly. “I was not prepared for the priestess to ask if I was to refuse today. I was not aware that was an option. That is why I only shook my head.”

  


“Ah. Well,” Eunsook stands, patting her thighs with both hands, “it is good you found your voice. I have another question to pose.”

  


Curiously, Kibum answers, “Yes?”

  


“Are you hungry?”

  


The chair creaks and rocks gently on the uneven earth as she stands up. Kibum watches in fascination as the pile of wood that Eunsook had left beside the fire pit are arranged in a pile within the hollowed ground. A long match ignites when Eunsook swipes it against the black strip of a cardboard box and soon the pile begins to shimmer with burning embers. On impulse, he leans in, stretching his open palms over the warm air rising from the flames and he catches the way she smiles at him. 

  


The truck door opening echoes against the silence of the trees & the slam has Kibum flinching in surprise where he sits. She sets up a metal contraption whose function he understands but whose form he doesn’t recognize, the slow growth of a meal warming his senses. The bowl she hands him is cold but the stew is warm & he eats as much as he can on a suddenly nervous stomach.

  


They eat in silence for a few minutes, only Eunsook’s smattering of questions about the warmth and taste of the stew filling the space between them. 

  


Kibum’s chewing on a bite and staring out at the valley, thinking about Taemin and wondering what he’s doing at that same moment when he hears her say, “You said your grand dam raised you.”

  


He nods, swallowing his bite. “Yes.”

  


“You are an only?” 

  


Kibum nods again, holding his spoon tightly and turning in his seat so that he is facing her. “Yes. You?” 

  


Eunsook chuckles. “Did they not even tell you that much about me?” 

  


He shakes his head. “I know only what you have told me.” 

  


The smile on her face falters and the shadows from the flames are mimicked in her eyes. “I am an only as well.”

  


“Are your guardians unliving?” Kibum asks curiously. The smile falls completely and he finds himself swallowing beneath a sharpened gaze. Without thinking, he lets the spoon fall into the bowl and his fingers tap absently against his collar, the bite mark still red pressed against his thumping heart. The action catches her attention and her eyes immediately soften. She glances away and licks her lips before taking a breath and looking back up with a sad smile.

  


“My dam is unliving. My sire still breathes.”

  


“It is only that Jinki-sire stood for you in everything,” Kibum says hurriedly. “Apologies, I-”

  


“No formalities, Kibum,” she interrupts wearily. “It was an obvious conclusion to draw.”

  


He nods. “I mourn to hear of your dam,” Kibum murmurs softly. 

  


  


Eunsook nods in reply. “I should explain the absence of my sire, though,” she says quietly. “He was occupied in trade. He abhors screens, and getting word to him often takes a long time, especially now during harvest season. You would know the name of his fields if I said it to you,” she says with an amused smile when Kibum raises his brows in interest. “Luna.” 

  


“That’s-” Kibum sputters, shocked.

  


“Yes,” she says with a laugh, “as I said, they are very well known. And that is why Jinki stood for him in everything. That and Tae-” she shakes her head. “That is why he was not there. We will meet in winter. He will attend Jongin’s Ceremony of Bonding.”

  


Kibum frowns in confusion. “Not-”

  


“No,” she interrupts quickly, “he does not attend the Holy Day of Mourning.” Kibum nods. The fire crackles in the quiet and he looks out at the valley where the sun has nearly set. “That is everything,” Eunsook suddenly continues. “As for you, they told me that your guardians are unliving, both sire and dam.” 

  


Kibum lets the lie sit in the air between them long enough that it might remain the truth in Eunsook’s mind if he doesn’t hurry to speak. He should tell her, he should. They’re bonded now. And the paperwork…

  


“No,” he says softly, keeping his eyes on her. For some reason, he wants to see her eyes when he tells her the truth. “They live. They abandoned me, like Taemin’s did him. Only mine made it official. I have the Confirmation of Release.” Eunsook’s thoughtful silence slips over Kibum’s shoulders like an itchy scarf.

  


“Then why did the Chois say your guardians were unliving?”

  


“It is what they believe,” he answers simply. “It is all anyone has ever known. My grand dam told no one. And I’ve told very few.”

  


“Taemin,” Eunsook says with a nod and a knowing smile.

  


“Yes,” he concedes, his cheeks warm.

  


Her eyes stay on him, watching him, reading him. “Orphans both but yet neither,” she murmurs and he wonders why she feels compelled to speak in riddles.

  


“Abandoned.”

  


“Yet chosen,” she points out quickly. 

  


Kibum snorts and finally looks down at his feet, stirring what’s left of his stew. “That’s what Taemin said.” He waits for a response but Eunsook only watches him, the last of the sun setting and leaving them with only the flames of Eunsook’s fire.

  


Eventually, Eunsook stands and reaches out a hand to take the bowl from him. She moves away, gathering up the supplies that she’d brought out for their meal & putting it all back in the truck. He stands himself, stretching muscles & limbs that have grown stiff with tension & inactivity. When he asks if he can help the look on her face makes him think that it might not have occurred to her that he actually could. Most of the cookware is gone but she teaches him what to do with their fire once they won’t be awake to tend to it. 

  


His focus is on the flames when she reappears. The mug she hands him is warm and he sips it gingerly while they watch the darkness finally settle its debt with the sun. Soon, the stars take the stage and begin to dance, a nearly full moon watching in admiration. The cups are taken to the truck, the chairs too, while Kibum follows her earlier instructions with the fire and, when she returns, a lantern in hand, she nods when he asks if he’s done it right. 

  


“Very good. Are you ready for sleep or would you like to speak more?”

  


“I…” Kibum looks up at the night sky, stalling. “A little while longer. While it’s still warm.”

  


“If only we hadn’t doused the flames,” she teases. 

  


He grimaces, arms tight at his chest. “Then I suppose…we should sleep.”

  


A beat of silence between them is time enough for him to catch the hesitation in her eye, almost masked by the darkness & her own determination. 

  


The door crinkles beneath her hand & she waves him in, following him a bit too quickly & they nearly bump heads. Her shoes are kicked off into one corner & he mimics the action in another.

At some point, though he does not know when, a sleeping bag and two pillows were lain out on the floor of the tent. Its edges nearly touch each of the walls of the tent itself.

  


“Go ahead,” she says, waving him toward the bag that lies unzipped. He kneels down and awkwardly pulls aside the cover, shuffling toward the very edge and laying his head on the pillow. The pillow is soft but firm, and the ground beneath is cushioned by something hidden. His impulse is to turn with his back to her, but it feels unkind to do so. So he lies on his back and feels the cover shift beneath his hands as she lies down beside him, back turned to him. The light from the lantern she had carried in with her dims and then disappears. Suddenly they lie in darkness.

  


“Sleep well, Kibum,” she murmurs.

  


“Sleep well, Eunsook,” he replies.

  


The desire for sleep is overridden by his mind’s wanderings. He stares at the wall and tries not to think of the warmth of another body beside him.

  


The morning is colder than he expects, & damp in a way he doesn’t understand & doesn’t like. There’s a smile on Eunsook’s face in the sunlight that wasn’t there in the dusk & the coffee she hands him makes her laugh when the taste hits his tongue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The name of the woods & the city outside of where Eunsook lives were "Shawol" & "SHINee World" scrambled up, respectively. I am that person. Also, "Whilde Osern" sounds really cool. It just does.
> 
> Their campsite looks like this: onthighsbelongtotaemin.tumblr.com/post/166558973353/idotravel-camping


	7. Drawing Close

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I have prepared oats & berries for our morning meal. We will stop again for midday, and arrive just before evening meal.”  
> “A long journey,” Kibum muses.  
> “Yes. A third of it was covered yesterday, the other two thirds will be covered today.” She leans in, teasing, “And I will drive the entire way.”  
> “Omegas are not allowed to drive,” he replies quickly, seemingly startled by her statement.  
> “Of course.” She smiles stepping back and toward the pot hanging over a small fire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> KIbum & Eunsook POV
> 
> Kibum & Eunsook spend the days leading up to the equinox slowly learning more about each other, & Eunsook realizing with shock just how little Kibum knows.

Eunsook laughs when Kibum’s face purses in disgust, the bitterness of the coffee she’d brewed not sweetened enough by the cubes of brown sugar she’d added to their cups.

“Here, have another,” she says as she hands him the jar with the golden cubes.  He takes one tentatively and lets it fall into his cup.  She watches him swirl it around gently before taking another sip, this time sighing in delight with closed eyes.  “Improved?”

“Much.”

“I have prepared oats & berries for our morning meal.  We will stop again for midday, and arrive just before evening meal.”

“A long journey,” Kibum muses.

“Yes.  A third of it was covered yesterday, the other two thirds will be covered today.”  She leans in, teasing, “And I will drive the entire way.”

“Omegas are not allowed to drive,” he replies quickly, seemingly startled by her statement.

“Of course.”  She smiles stepping back and toward the pot hanging over a small fire.  The bowl she had handed to Kibum the night before with stew she ladles now with oats and berries, handing it to him with a spoon before taking a seat in the same purple chair she had then.  He takes timid bites, taking his time to blow cooling air over the steaming breakfast and she turns her eyes out to the valley where the sun has already risen, burning bright against the woods they’re camped in.

Eleven hours will get them from this campsite to the warmth of her home, a bit more depending on how long they stop for midday meal.  A long journey, yes, on that Kibum is right.  Yet she has driven it so many times that it is almost nothing to her at all.

The only worry to her now is how Kibum will endure.

Turning back, she sees that he has nearly finished his bowl.

“I will take that as a compliment!” she says enthusiastically, pointing.  He looks down, embarrassed.

Kibum does his best to help clean up, though it’s clear that every step is unfamiliar to him & she finds herself a bit puzzled as to how he knows so little after so many years of Hunts.  A quick learner, though, and not afraid to ask questions, a glimpse into a personality she hopes to know better.

It takes a little time, but soon they are on the road again, further along on their journey back to her house, their new home together.

“I know it will seem long.  Just think, though, that a hot shower and a soft bed wait for both of us when we arrive.  That is reward enough, yes?”  She glances at Kibum with an enthusiastic smile that immediately turns to a confused frown at the panicked expression on her bond mate’s face.  He has a thumb pressed to his lips and his eyes are slightly widened and cast to the side, and he’s begun fidgeting in a way that she slowly recognizes as him subtly moving away from her.  “Are you alright?” she asks in concern, glancing again.  Kibum only nods, mumbling something about being tired, curling up as tight as he can into a ball on his side of the cab.  And, just as before, he falls quickly asleep.

Eunsook grips the wheel, glancing over at her mate’s sleeping form, and gnaws at her lip.  She sighs and looks up at the sky through the windshield.  The day is bright with a clear blue sky, not a cloud in sight as they slowly travel away from the valley and Kibum’s home. 

Kibum shifts in his sleep and she glances again at his sleeping form.  He’s still wearing the clothes she had gifted him yesterday at the campsite.  The memory of helping him out of his bonding gown has her frowning and a bit flushed, wondering why such a garment was chosen when whoever had chosen it must have known it would have to be undone by her hand. 

Though they could not have known of the mark she would have seen at his shoulder.

Only Taemin would.

~

Eunsook pulls into the drive with Kibum still sleeping across the cab from her.  She’d managed to rouse him long enough to eat a meal, but he had otherwise been asleep for the majority of the ride.  It had occurred to her that he might be a type to sleep easily in a moving vehicle, but it also crossed her mind that he may not have slept well the night last, or especially the one before.  Or that his body was still adjusting to the changes her bite was causing.

The mountain glows golden with a melting sun as the engine dies.  Eunsook pulls the key out of the ignition and turns to Kibum who doesn’t stir.  She reaches over to rub his shoulder.

“Kibum,” she murmurs gently, “we’re here.”  He makes a soft noise before opening his eyes, lashes fluttering as he slowly blinks awake.  He looks startled to see her and she can almost see him trying to process who she is before finally remembering.

“Already?” he asks, clearly confused as he sits up and looks around.  Eunsook chuckles as she opens her door.

“Welcome home.”

The door opens on to a house that is warmer than the outside, though still chilly and a bit dim from being left empty the last three days.  He follows her in quietly.  Eunsook looks at Kibum’s bleary eyes and wonders if she should begin a tour or send him to bed. 

“You seem tired,” she says as she reaches behind him to shut the door. 

He shakes his head as he steps to the side, eyes not quite meeting hers yet.  “I am fine.  The…um…shower…and…”  He glances up, a tight smile at his lips.

“Of course.  And then I’ll show you the rest of the house?”  He nods silently, glancing around the room they stand in. 

She leads him through a main room where a long sofa sits perpendicular to them with a deep purple cushioned chair facing it.  A tall bookcase stuffed with books sits on the other side of the sofa behind a round table beneath a lamp, and all three pieces, chair, table, bookcase, are tucked away in a little rectangular alcove bursting with light from half a dozen shoulder-high windows. 

As they pass by a small table and a pair of chairs sitting to the side of a tiled floor, she says, “This is the eating area.  And that,” she adds, pointing to an L-shaped counter space complete with a sink, stove, oven, a cold cupboard, and a metal cupboard beneath the sink, “is the cooking area.”  Half a dozen cupboards hang above the counter, none above the sink.

Just beyond the kitchen is a doorway leading to a wide hallway.  A bathing room is to their left, a bedroom to their right.  She opens the door to the bedroom wide and steps inside.

“This is your room.  And Taemin’s, when he gets here.” 

A bed sits just inside the open door with a closet entrenched in the wall beside the entrance, and an armoire sits across from the door.  The bed itself rests on a patterned rug and faces a wide window that is covered in thin reed blinds that run parallel to the wooden floor.  The bed is covered in white linens with a simple wood headboard that matches a pair of stands on either side, though the armoire is of a darker hue.

A large pile of boxes sits stacked beside the armoire and along the wall at the foot of the bed.

“My room?” Kibum asks curiously, stepping inside gingerly and looking around.  The closet door sits open and is obviously empty.  Eunsook assumes the armoire is equally so.

“I didn’t think sharing a room so early would be a good idea,” she answers carefully. 

Kibum looks at her in confusion.  “Last night…”

Eunsook chuckles as she shrugs.  “It was the only sleeping bag I have.”

Kibum nods as he turns back to his inspections.  With a hand on the closet door, he asks “You had a room already prepared?”

“In truth, it was a spare for when my sire comes to visit.”

“Where will he sleep now?” Kibum asks curiously.

“It will be dealt with when he comes in winter,” Eunsook answers.  The look on Kibum’s face and the stiffness of his shoulders makes it clear that he is not satisfied with her answer. 

He steps away from the closet door and she watches as he touches the armoire gingerly before opening the doors.  The drawers are opened, the blinds tugged at, fingers brushed over the bedding.  She watches it all in anticipation of a verdict because try as she might she can’t tell if he’s pleased with what she’s presented him with; he just seems overwhelmed.

He stops at the head of the bed, fingertips still on the covering and eyes cast down.  “I don’t…”  She holds her breath, waiting to hear what’s wrong and wondering if she’ll be able to make it right.  “…know why I didn’t think…it didn’t occur to me…”  Kibum stumbles over his words before finally looking up.  “Thank you,” he gestures at the room, “for this.”  Eunsook nods, grateful that what had been a neglected guest room less than a month ago has so easily been converted into a sleeping room for her unexpected mate.

“I am only sorry there is so little color,” she says apologetically, remembering what he’d said the evening before.

He shakes his head with a little laugh.  “A blank canvas means it will be that much easier to make it my own.”

Eunsook laughs herself as she steps out into the hall.  “This is your bathing room.”  Kibum follows her out of the bedroom and crosses the hall to look inside the room she has gestured to.

The bathing room is large and airy with two beveled glass windows letting in sunlight.  Tiny light gray octagon tiles dot the floor with large, deep blue square ones patterning the wall.  A thriving green plant sits in a window sill beside a sink and an oval mirror.  A tub and shower are encased in a nook with a silver curtain that hangs on matching hooks on a shiny steel rod.  It is the room she is the proudest of, the most self-conscious of too, the last she had completed and only just so.

“Is it to your liking?” she asks self-consciously.  It was designed with a specific person in mind, not just any guest.

“Yes,” Kibum says breathlessly, “it’s beautiful.”  He turns to her then, brows furrowed in confusion.  “You said this was my bathing room?”

“Yes,” Eunsook answers with a nod.

“Not yours?”

“No,” she says with a soft laugh.  “I have my own in my own sleeping room.”

“Oh.”  Eunsook watches him hesitate.  “And where…”

“At the end of the hall.”  Eunsook points to the door that sits closed, the one that crowns the other four.  The first two are the bedroom and bathing room she has just shown Kibum.  The third leads to a project yet unfinished, the fourth to a room she hasn’t yet shown Kibum because she is getting him the shower and soft bed she promised.  He stares at the door too long to be comfortable and she finally asks if he’d like to see it.  His eyes are wide when he looks up at her and he shakes his head.

“I was only wondering…”

“The equinox?”  He nods, swallowing, looking back at the door.

“Yes.  That is where…”  Even she finds herself hesitating though she’s the one who pushed through the words when speaking with Jinki.  “That is where we will spend the Equinox.  Here are where the linens are stored,” she hurries on, pressing her hand to a panel in the wall that swiftly rises revealing shelves stocked with quilts blankets, bedding, and towels.  She pulls a violet one from a shelf and hands it to him with what she hopes is a friendly smile, the tension between them now almost palpable and she doesn’t miss the way he quickly moves his fingers away when they accidentally brush hers.  “Enjoy your shower.”  They stand there awkwardly a beat too long before she turns and hurries back to the truck and the relief of the mindless chore of unpacking the supplies.

Eunsook has the truck unloaded when Kibum emerges from the hallway door.  His hair is damp and his neck bare, a gray tunic matched with black pants and black slippers.  It’s clear that he’s unaccustomed to his new hair length as it sits in a ruffled mess on his head, jostled and tucked and moved about, but ultimately unstyled.  She herself had changed into a pair of loose pants and a short-sleeved shirt, an easy outfit while she waited for Kibum to return.

“Are you feeling better?” she asks tentatively, hopeful that the tension from before may have waned in the time they have spent apart.

“Yes, much.  Thank you.”  It’s not as convincing as he attempts, but the attempt is enough to bolster her hope further.

“Are you hungry?”

He nods.  “A little, yes.”

“I know that a lot has happened quite suddenly within such a short time,” she begins slowly, “but I was wondering if you would like to have evening meal tonight in the city?  I know a place-”

“Yes!” Kibum interjects eagerly, eyes bright.

“Good,” she says with a chuckle, relieved.  “Let me bathe quickly and then we will leave.”  He nods in agreement though it’s obvious he’s disappointed to have to wait.  “You can begin to unpack, perhaps, in the meantime?  Familiarize yourself with your room.”  His eyes brighten again and he nods before hurrying down the hall.

Eunsook follows, glancing once as she passes, closing her door unfamiliarly behind her.  The bathing room clouds with steam and she closes her eyes and lets the water fall over her shoulders, loosening muscles tight from driving for hours.  Unlike Kibum, she had been awake for all eleven hours of their ride back and the adrenaline rush of travel was beginning to dissipate.  At least things were well between them.  Now all she had to do was keep the conversation going.

Her hair is braided and knotted at her nape when she emerges.  Kibum is on the floor kneeling beside an open box, carefully making piles of garments when she knocks at his doorway.

“Are you ready?”  He starts at the sound of her voice before nodding, standing up quickly and moving toward her.  He’s at the door before she puts up a hand.

“Ah, you should finish dressing.” 

He looks at her in confusion, looking down at the clothes he’s wearing.  “What do you mean?” 

There’s no gentle way of saying it, and yet she can’t bring herself to be blunt.  “Ah…when we go out…when you go out…you-” Her hands ghost in front of her neck as she speaks.  Suddenly his eyes widen and his hand slaps at his throat.  He hurries past her to the bathing room and she listens to his footsteps click against the ceramic tiles, and then return to the wooden planks of the bedroom floorboards. 

He’s beside her with the collar in his hands, eyes staring at it.  When he looks up, his eyes are filled with confusion and a little fear.

“Do you put it on me?  Or do I put it on from now?” 

Without thinking, Eunsook laughs.  “Apologizes,” she hurries to say when his head bows slightly.  “You do.”  Kibum nods and lifts the collar to his neck, brow furrowing in concentration as he attaches the clasp in the back.  He shakes his head and looks at her with a tight smile.

“Ready.”

The ride to the tower she had chosen to take them to for their evening meal isn’t long, fifteen minutes, and soon Eunsook is parking in a lot that overlooks a lush park.  Kibum’s eyes had widened when she’d pointed to where they were headed, and when he’d asked if it was very high up she’d shaken her head.

“There are higher towers.  And don’t worry, we’re not going to the top floor.”

Now they ride side by side in an elevator with half a dozen other people and Kibum is growing stiffer as the numbers grow larger.  Just as Eunsook is about to ask what’s wrong, their floor ‘dings’ and the doors open.  She leads him out to the foyer where a breath-taking view of the city lies before them, the sun nearly set and painting the shimmering city lights in swaths of crimson, gold, and violet. 

Suddenly, Kibum’s arms are gripped tight around her bicep and he’s shaking so violently she’s not sure he’s going to be able to stand much longer.  A few chuckles from passersby distract her for a moment, a murmured, “Oh, isn’t that precious?” pulling her focus back to her mate.

“Kibum?”

“Yousadiitwasnthigh,” he whispers urgently, teeth nearly chattering.

“I didn’t think it was,” she says, placing a hand over his as she guides them slowly back to the elevators.  They’re halfway down before he stops shaking, and they’re back at their parking level when he finally lets go. 

Eunsook opens his door and lets him get seated before closing it tight.  She takes the walk around the back of the truck to take a deep breath and blow it out through pursed lips.  When she gets in, she turns to Kibum’s profile with a smile.

“Let us try again.  I know a place that is flat to the floor that makes excellent soup.  We’ll go there.  Perhaps you’ll have forgiven me by then?” 

He chuckles softly, his thumb rising to his lip.  “Perhaps.”

The ride home is quiet yet calm.  Kibum had in fact, to Eunsook’s relief, abruptly stated, “All is forgiven” as their meal had come to an end.  Her spoon had been at her mouth and she had been so relieved that she had nearly knocked her nose with the soup.  The action had caused him to laugh leaving another bit of the tension that had risen earlier to fall to the side.

Now the sound of the truck rumbling over the roads is the only noise, Kibum’s tired yawns a welcome distraction to Eunsook’s own tired mind. 

When they pull into the drive, she’s halfway up the steps to the deck when she hears him murmur, “It’s so quiet here.”  She looks around, the silence so familiar, ever since she was little, that it never crossed her mind to think it might be foreign to him.

~

Kibum marvels at the moon only a moment longer than he’d like, all too aware that Eunsook is waiting for him at the door.  He hurries up the stairs and past her, stepping into the still unfamiliar home that smells so much of her.

“Is there anything you need before we go to bed?” she asks, slipping off her coat and hanging it on a hook that he hadn’t noticed when they’d arrived earlier that evening.  It seems familiar in a way that takes him a moment to process, finally realizing that it’s identical to the one just inside the kitchen door at Taemin’s home.  The question suddenly registers and a clench to his chest is immediately followed by relief when he remembers that she does not mean “to bed together”.

“No, thank you.  I found everything I need while I waited to leave this evening.”

She nods and begins moving through the house, he following her as she leads the way, lights brightening and dimming in her wake. 

When they reach the door to his bedroom she stops and smiles.

“Good night, Kibum.  I will see you in the morning.”

“Good night, Eunsook.”  He watches as she disappears down the hall, her bedroom door closing until there is only an inch left open.  He steps into his own room, closing the door completely.  Light streams through the window, moonlight covering the bed and floor.  He had pulled the blinds up as high as they would go for just that purpose. 

The collar he had nearly forgotten earlier in the evening he takes off and lays on the table beside the bed.  From the clothes he had been organizing earlier he pulls a pair of sleep clothes, breathing in the smell of the Chois’ home that reminds him of Minho which reminds him of Taemin.  He hurries out of the clothes he’s worn this evening, the ones that have begun to smell of Eunsook, and slips into the sleep clothes greedily. 

He climbs on top of the bed and lies on his back, just as he had the night before, and stares out the window, at the moon and at the stars.  When sleep takes hold, he is smiling.

Morning sunlight streams through the window onto Kibum’s face, burning his eyes.  He squints them tight, fighting the intrusion into his dreams.  Taemin’s face fades away as the scent of Eunsook grows strong.  He blinks against the burn of the light and bites his lip when he remembers where he is.

Nothing that has happened so far matters in as much as this is his first morning in his new home.  This is the day he takes hold as the bonded omega of the household.  Of an alpha he has now known…thirty-six hours.  He licks his lips and burrows his head beneath a pillow, wills the unfavorableness of the world away.

The sound of footsteps passing outside his door causes his breaths to stop as he listens intensely for any new noise.  He can hear music and the quiet rumblings of a kitchen being used.  It’s all muted and unfamiliar.  After a minute, the warm scent of coffee wafts through the air and he pokes his head out from beneath the pillow to breathe it deeply.

Tentatively, he steps off of the bed, toes curling on the sun-warmed rug.  He looks down at his sleep clothes and wonders if he should dress before stepping into the hallway.  Before meeting with Eunsook.  He decides he should and tugs out an outfit not dissimilar to what he had worn the other night.  His hand is on the knob when he remembers his collar.

The same sunlight that woke him is pouring in through the windows of the front of the house and Eunsook is using it to read at the sofa when Kibum comes out.  There is a cup of coffee in one hand and an authentic book in the other, and he can still hear music playing.  There is no immediate move on her part to indicate that his presence has been noticed and he hesitates to make it known.  Unlike himself, she is still in her sleep clothes, plaid pants and a short-sleeved shirt with her hair knotted up on top of her head.

Finally, he decides to wish her a good morning, walking through the cooking room and past the table and chairs to stand before her.  It takes her a moment to look up, startled by the sound of another’s voice.

“Ah, Kibum.  Good morning.  How was your sleep?”

“It was fine.  The sun woke me,” he answers awkwardly, pointing over his shoulder to the hallway he had stepped out of.  She nods in understanding, glancing over at the windows that sunlight bursts through and onto the pages before her.

The book is placed page down on the sofa and she stands, the cup still in her hand as she asks, “Would you like a cup?  Or something to eat?”

“I…,” Kibum stutters, “shouldn’t I be the one preparing morning meal?”  Eunsook looks at him in amusement, already moving toward the cooking area.

“Why would that task fall to you?” 

Kibum falters to draw up a response as he follows: The answer seems obvious.  “Because…because I…”

“Because you are the omega?” Eunsook finishes as she reaches up into a cupboard, pulling down a set of bowls.  Another cupboard opens and a pot appears.  Another and a canister of oats is added.  “I can no longer make meals because of you?”  The wiggle of her eyebrows and the quirk of her smile has him giving an uncertain chuckle of his own.

“No, you cannot.”  He makes no move to stop her, though, and she only laughs at his response.  “And besides, you have made every meal so far.  It seems unfair.”

“You are not familiar enough with my home to begin cooking meals, Kibum,” she points out, pouring water into the pot and adding the oats.

He frowns.  “Then…teach me.”    Turning a knob on the stove, Eunsook nods.  “Watch what I do.  We will start there.  You are unfamiliar with my home entirely, other than your own rooms.  After our meal I will remedy that.”

“Yes,” Kibum murmurs, watching closely as Eunsook stirs the oats in the pot with a spoon made of wood she pulled from another cupboard.  “You will return to your trade eventually and I will be left alone.  I will need to learn how to care for the home by myself.”  He looks up when he sees Eunsook pause.

“Ah.  Actually, I do much of my work here.  I will not be gone as much as you think.”

“Oh.”  There’s an awkward pause between them punctuated by the music still playing and the soft bubbling of the oats on the stove.

Without turning to him, Eunsook quietly asks, “Would you like berries or sweetener for your oats?”

He quickly answers, “Yes.” 

When they sit at the table, their bowls steaming before them, a bottle of nectar between them and berries a deep blue in their oats, Eunsook suddenly nods, smiling encouragingly.

“Taemin will join you soon after the Time of Solitude comes to its conclusion.  Join us, I mean.  Once he arrives you will not be alone.  And the seasons will change even sooner.  You will be able to plant a garden, just as you had said you wanted.  And travel to the river when it is warm enough to swim.”

Kibum licks his lips and nods.  “Yes, of course.”

“I only mean,” she continues hastily, “that you will not have only the household to keep your attentions.”

Kibum shakes his head, laughing lightly.  “I only meant that I want to know how to do the things that must be done to run a household.  The things an omega should know how to do.  And I will find ways of keeping busy, Eunsook.  Do not worry about me becoming bored.”

She nods uncertainly.   “Of course.  It is only that I am often referred to as being dull with my singular hobbies.  I am unsure of how to keep another in my company occupied.”

“I will not be in your company,” Kibum points out.

Eunsook laughs.  “In my home.”  He nods, taking a bite of the cooled oats.  “Good?”  He nods again, chewing as he thinks. 

They eat their meal in quiet.

When Eunsook finishes, she takes her bowl and cup over to the black cupboard made of metal that sits beneath the sink.  Kibum watches as she opens it and puts them both inside.

“What is that?” he asks curiously.

She’s wiping her hands on a towel and putting the pot in with the bowl and cup as she answers, “A machine that washes dishes.”

Kibum stands, his nearly empty bowl forgotten as he hurries to stand beside her.  “It washes dishes?”

“Yes,” she answers, clearly amused by his enthusiasm, “Have you never seen one?”

He shakes his head.  “I have not been in a kitchen since my grand dam became unliving.  And we had no such thing in our own home, we washed all our dishes by hand.”

“Well since Tae-I…when I was designing I chose to make everything as functionally simple as possible.  And if this excites you,” she says, closing the cupboard door and pressing a button.  Kibum starts, taking a step back when the machine begins humming softly.  She smiles, turning toward the hallway.  “I think you will be interested with what I have to show you here.”  He follows her down the hall, curious to see what else she has to show him. 

They pass the door to his bedroom and bathing room, stopping at a panel just across from the door down the hall from his and not yet opened.  She presses a hand to the panel and slides it open revealing a machine he recognizes.

“It washes clothes,” he says triumphantly.  The clothing they had worn during the evening and morning after their Ceremony of Bonding sit in a woven basket on top waiting to be washed.

“Yes.  It runs a bit differently than ones you have used or seen, though. Here.”  She hands him the basket and opens the lid.  “Put everything inside and do not worry about it being sorted.  It will be fine.”  He looks down uncertainly before turning the basket over and letting the clothing fall into the empty machine.  “Now close the lid.”

“But-”

“Don’t worry,” she says calmly.  He follows her instructions and starts when the machine begins to hum without any further actions.

“How did it do that?  I did not press any settings and there was no cleanser added.”

The same panel that had slid open now slides shut beneath Eunsook’s palm and it seems as though nothing has changed.  “The machine can sense what is to be cleaned and how.  And the cleanser is added automatically.  There is a repository that it is pulled from.”

Kibum frowns in confusion, head shaking.  “How do you know that there is enough?”

“The machine will signal when it is low.”

He turns back to the panel, still frowning.  “How are the clothes dried?  I saw no lines in the yard...”

Eunsook smiles proudly.  “The machine does that as well.” 

Kibum turns then, clearly amazed.  “So much in one small machine.  And so quiet.”

“I thought since Tae-” Eunsook stops, coughs and smiles.  “It seemed a wise investment.  It gets very cold here.  And I get distracted with my work and lose track of time.  My clothes might freeze in winter just from being forgotten.”

“You said you do your work here?” Kibum asks.  He points to the closed door just behind them.  “Is that your office?”

“Ah.  Yes.  Here, let me show you.”  The door opens up onto a room with a desk covered in papers with drawings and outlines, a few tablets with black screens scattered about.  “Actually, this is the spare room.  I have been using it as an office of sorts while I get the sketches for my actual office done.  For now, much of my work is done here.  I plan to begin building after the spring equinox and finishing before the summer solstice.  Once I do, this will all be moved out and the room will be…” Eunsook pauses and Kibum freezes, suddenly realizing what she isn’t saying.  This isn’t a spare room, not any longer and perhaps it never was.  If it was not intended to be her office, despite her living alone, and if she has not built one until now then this room had a purpose and an unbound alpha would not need a spare room when an office was in need.  The Covenant she had been in: She had prepared for the omega’s arrival.  He knows what the room will be used for, what it is now intended for.  And the mention of the equinox and the solstice sends a shiver up his spine.   “We’ll see.  Come, there is more to show you.” 

~

Eunsook doesn’t miss the way Kibum responds to the mention of the equinox and solstice and she regrets marking the days of construction in that manner.  It is only that those were the markings with which she had done so in her own mind, and they had not yet been altered in consideration for her bond mate’s feelings.

He knows what the room will be used for, of that she is sure.  What it was always intended for when it was only going to be her and Taemin in the home.  The question of young was never a question when it was she and her soul bond living together: They would have them.  With Kibum, though, with how new they are to each other, it is too early to even fathom speaking on: A day and a half is not enough time to ask another to bear one’s young.  And it is not a request she is ready to make in any matter.

They step out into the hall and the choice is made at the last moment to offer her room for his viewing.  A part of her does not want to share that piece of her home with a stranger.  Kibum, however, is her bond mate and will be in that room in the most intimate of ways in six days.  It is better that she shows him now when they can both choose to be present. 

“Would you like to see my room before we continue?  You do not have to.  I only thought you might like to see it before the equinox arrives.”  Kibum flinches, eyes guarded though he only nods and follows.

Her bedroom is set up identically to the one she had shown him the night before, though with an extra window that faces the opposite side of the house and no armoire.  It is decorated in shades of lavender, white, and pale gray; calming colors.  He stays in the doorway, looking around the small space that Eunsook spends her nights in and she looks around as well wondering how different his view of her room might be from her own.

He points to a door just beyond her bed and asks, “What is that?”

“My bathing room,” she answers self-consciously, though she had already explained that she had one attached to her room. 

“Of course,” he says quietly.  “You said that.” 

She nods, waiting for any other words.  When none immediately follow, she abruptly blurts out, “Would you like to see it?” 

He raises his brows.  “Your bathing room?”  The incredulity of his tone has her chuckling and she shakes her head.

“I must confess, Kibum, that I am at a loss.  I think we are both uncomfortable.  Perhaps it is better that we go and I can amaze you with more of the machinations of my home?”  She tucks a non-existent strand of hair behind her ear and smiles hopefully.  He laughs and nods as he turns to lead them back down the hall.

To her relief, Kibum is quickly distracted by the system for cleaning the kitchen floors, startling him up onto a chair with their suction.  More than once, in her explanation of how a network of solar panels energizes most of her home, and how much of the appliances work off of some form of touch pad technology, Eunsook finds herself inadvertently slipping Taemin’s name into the conversation.  “I didn’t want Tae-”; “I thought that Tae-”; “It was for Tae-”.  If Kibum catches the pattern he never shows it, his interest seeming only to lie in learning more of how the home he will now live in runs.  For that Eunsook is grateful.

“These are the harvests from my garden,” she says, opening a cupboard and pointing to a series of mismatched jars lined up on a shelf.  “As you can see, it is not much, just enough for myself for some of the autumn and winter.  A little bit of my own along with what I purchase from the markets.”

Kibum points to a small jar full of something dark.  “Are those night berries?”

“Yes.  The same as those we’ve had with our morning meals these last two mornings.  That will be my last jar, sadly,” Eunsook answers with a sigh.

He looks at her in wonder.  “You grew them yourself?”

“Most of them,” she confirms.  “A few are from my sire.”  She chuckles.  “He sends me a small crate at the end of each harvest with a letter.  I would not be surprised if one arrives in the following weeks with a congratulatory message on our bonding.”

“Ah,” Kibum answers distractedly.  Suddenly his eyes light up.  “Golden roots!  I have not seen those in ages!  My grand dam and I grew those in the village where I was raised, but we could not get them to grow in Minho’s city.”

“Come,” Eunsook says, already marching toward the door.  “We should go look at the garden as it sits and you can plan in your mind what you would like to plant when the weather warms.”

“It is not too late in the season to plant some roots or gourds,” Kibum protests as he follows her through the main room toward the door.

“No,” she agrees, stepping out onto the patio and waiting for him to join her, “but the garden is at present mine and the soil would need to be tilled and marked for you to begin planting.  And it will be a cold winter, I think, and anything planted after the equinox would not thrive.”  This time she turns away before she can see his reaction, knowing already that it will not be a joyful one.  She takes the stairs two at a time and leads him to the patch of earth that she has cleared for growing and watches with pride at the awe with which he marvels at her handiwork.

With a teasing smile, he turns to her.  “You said you were afraid you would forget your laundry yet you have managed to remember a garden so well.”

“One is much more interesting than the other,” she answers with a laugh. 

The garden is not vast though it is not as modest as she claims either.  Many hours have been spent building it up because gardening is something that she loves to do.  It reminds her of her dam and of her sire, it is a thing that she loves and derives pleasure from.  It is also something that she knows that Taemin will never be a part of, at least not directly.  And yet Kibum will.  “Those are the trees I was telling you of,” she says, pointing to a small orchard.  A variety of fruit trees, most with barren branches, sit nobly in the sunlight.

“You have so much,” Kibum says in awe, “why would you ever go to a market?”

“Oats,” Eunsook answers easily.  “Nectar, bread, things of that sort.”

Kibum frowns.  “What do you do with all the excess?  There truly is so much.”  Eunsook shrugs.  “Trade.  Barter.  Gifts.  Gifts, mostly.  Homemade preserves are often welcome gifts.  My clients often appreciate the extra touch.  A lot can be done with small favors.”

“Will I be allowed kitchen privileges?” Kibum asks curiously.

“Of course,” Eunsook laughs.  “Why wouldn’t you?”

He tilts his head.  “I am already having to share the garden.  I only wanted to be sure I would be able to share the kitchen as well when the time came to make such things.”

“When the time comes to make such things, you can have the kitchen for as long as it takes to make them.  As long as you allow me a little time to make a few jars of my own.” 

He glances at her, his thumb coming up to rest against his lip.  “If you insist.” 

She laughs again, shaking her head.  “Come inside,” she says as she begins walking back toward the house.  “There is one last room to show you and then we should prepare to leave.”

“Leave?” Kibum repeats curiously as he follows behind.  “To go where?”

Eunsook marches up the steps and presses her palm to the door, pushing it open and waving Kibum inside.  “The market.  We should go today so that you can see where it is and what it is like.  If you want to learn to run this household, you should know what will need to be bought and where to find it.  Now, this is the main room,” she says, gesturing to the space they now stand in.  It is the area just inside the doorway.  Whereas the floor of the doorway itself, and that of the kitchen after, is a warm wood, the main room has a rich carpet that reminds Kibum of the type that lies across the floor of the main room of Taemin’s home.

He moves to the center of the room and turns slowly, admiring the bookcase full of books, the sofa Eunsook had sat on earlier, the tables beside it, the deep purple chair across from it, and the bright windows still pouring in late summer light.

“You have no images on your walls,” he notes.

“No,” Eunsook answers with a shake of her head.

He looks again at the bookcase and the tables beside the sofa.  “None framed and set out either.”

“No,” she repeats.  “Does this surprise you?”

“No, it is only…”  He looks over at her curiously.  “Are you opposed to them?”

Eunsook tilts her head in thought.  “I am not fond of them.  I would not want them in the main room, if that is what you are asking.”

Kibum nods.  “In my own room then?  Would that be acceptable?”

“Of course,” Eunsook says with a laugh.  “That room is yours to do with as you wish.”

Kibum glances down the hall with a slight frown.  “What of the bathing room?”

To that she shakes her head.  “That would require more of a conversation.  I don’t think you would want framed images in there, besides.  If you want to change something in any of the rooms other than your own, we can discuss it.” 

Kibum nods again.  He turns to her with a smile, biting his lip briefly.  “Before we leave, might I try to make our afternoon meal?  Something simple.  A soup, maybe.”

Eunsook hesitates long enough for him to quickly add, “Or a sandwich, perhaps.  Whatever you think I might be capable of given how little I know.  And I should be the one to put away the dishes once the machine has finished.  The laundry as well?”

“Kibum…”

“Please?”

In the end, Eunsook stands to the side, giving nods of encouragement and a quick bracing of an arm across the clothes washer when Kibum’s movements would have caused them both more harm than good. 

He makes them an afternoon meal of golden root salad with a sandwich made of nut butter and a dollop each of Eunsook’s night berry preserves.

“Is it alright?” he asks nervously as she takes the first bites.

“I’m eating it, aren’t I?” she answers casually, taking a drink of the milk she had watched him pour into a glass before her.  His shoulders visibly droop and he presses a thumb to his lip before picking up a fork.  She watches a few moments before chuckling.  “Kibum?”

He doesn’t look up.  “Hmm?”

“Kibum this is a very good meal.  Thank you for making it for us.”  He smiles shyly and takes a bite of his own salad.

They’re halfway through the meal and Eunsook has a list half-formed in her head when Kibum quietly says, “You do not thank the Ancients before your meals.”

Eunsook shakes her head, swallowing a bite of her sandwich.  “No, I do not.”

“Is that…is that another thing we need to have a conversation about?  Like framed images?”

“I think we are having it now, are we not?”  Kibum nods, quickly taking a bite of his salad and chewing it thoughtfully.  “You want to know if it is allowed?  Or if it is permitted only in your room?”  He looks at her as he finishes chewing, swallows, and then nods.  “It is.  I am not accustomed to sharing my meals, and when I do I am not accustomed to being the elder, the one to lead in giving thanks.  And I did not know what your thoughts were.”

“Shall I share them now?” 

Eunsook laughs at the timidity with which Kibum asks his question.  “Unless you would like to postpone the conversation?”

“No,” he answers, laughing self-consciously.  “I would like to give thanks.  The Chois did not, but my grand dam always did.  And I have missed doing so aloud.”

Eunsook nods decisively.  “Then we will begin from evening meal.”

Kibum nods as well, murmuring, “Thank you,” as he takes a last bite of his salad.

~

Kibum waits in the main room for Eunsook to join him.  He is ready for their trip to the market but she is not, never having noticed that she was still in her sleep wear the entire time they had spent together.  It was only when she had finished overseeing his cleaning up of their afternoon meal that she realized she was not dressed and had left him to ready herself for the ride into town.

Not the city, she had explained, when he had begun growing anxious, the outskirts.  “Closer in size to where Minho lives,” she had explained as she disappeared down the hall.  At the closing of her door he had remembered his collar and hurried to put it on before taking the seat in the purple chair he now sits on in the main room.

It is not a long wait and soon she is leading him to the truck parked near the foot of the stairs at the base of the deck.

“Is there anything you would like while we are there?  A sweet, perhaps?” she asks as they pull out of the gravel drive onto the paved road.  He doesn’t recognize any markers, having been asleep when they’d arrived yesterday evening.  The trees that surround Eunsook’s house begin to fade the further they go.  As they pick up speed, they travel downhill and from his seat Kibum can see glimpses of a city through the waning foliage.  “Kibum?”

“Hmm?”

“Is there anything you would like while we are at the market?”

“Nothing that I can think of.  Everything that I need I found last night.”  A thought crosses his mind and he stiffens, jaw clenching.  “Unless there is something I might need for the equinox?”  The truck pulls to a stop at a passing, traffic crossing in front of them.

“No,” Eunsook says quietly, her eyes on the traffic coming toward them.  “Everything is taken care of.”

The market is unremarkable, smaller than the ones he had visited with his cousin when he had stopped by to shop for Kibum and his grand dam.  Smaller even than the one Minho had taken himself, Jongin, and Taemin to once before he was of age and they were all still young to buy them cool treats on a hot day. 

Eunsook chooses everything and Kibum agrees to it all, no choice to which he has any aversion.  When she asks him if he’d like a sweet he looks at her incredulously and without thinking replies, “You must think me so young.”  A pained look flickers across her eyes. 

“No, it’s only that I usually get one for myself and thought you might like one as well.  We won’t be coming back for at least a week, maybe two.  What we have in our basket and at the house is all that we will have.  A treat for the road might be fun.”

He shakes his head in regret.  “Apologies, I-”

“No formalities, Kibum,” Eunsook mumbles, looking around, “it is not necessary.  Now, would you like something before we leave?”

“A drink would be nice,” he answers quietly.  “Or whatever you are having.”  She nods and he follows, nodding himself when she points to a glass bottle on a rack. 

They stand behind an elderly alpha who is slow to load his items onto the half-moon counter, slower still to make his way to the clerk waiting patiently.  Kibum looks down at the basket and the drink inside and up at Eunsook’s profile.  The elderly alpha takes his small bag and walks away.

Eunsook places their basket on the half-moon counter and Kibum watches it rotate toward the clerk as he follows Eunsook to stand in front of them.  The clerk and Eunsook exchange pleasantries, though neither acknowledge Kibum directly.  A pad he had not seen from where he & Eunsook had stood before sits on a high counter before them and he watches in fascination as Eunsook presses her palm against it, the black screen suddenly lighting up beneath her touch.   The clerk thanks them for their patronage and then they are leaving the store with bags of their own.

Kibum waits until they return to her truck, the bags tucked away in the back seat, and his safety belt tightly fastened to offer his thanks, the drink she had chosen held tightly in his fisted hands.

“Of course,” she demurs with a smile. 

They’re at the passing from before, traffic crossing briefly.  Eunsook looks again past Kibum before turning onto the quick road and away from the town.  They ride in quiet with Eunsook tapping her fingers absently at the wheel & Kibum watching the passing scenery & slow fade from the city to a quiet countryside. 

Abruptly, he turns to her and asks, “Is that how all payments are made?”

Eunsook glances over at him, brows furrowed in confusion.  “What do you mean?” 

“Payments.  I’ve never seen one before.”

“You’ve never…,” she glances at him again.  “How have you purchased things in the past?”

“I haven't,” Kibum retorts, surprised by the ignorance of her question.  “Unbound omegas aren’t permitted.  A cousin did all of the purchasing for my grand dam and I, the Chois for me after she became unliving.  I was never there to witness the payments, though.  Not even when Minho took us to the markets once.  Is that how it always is?”

“Yes,” Eunsook answers, brows still furrowed.  “In the city, at least.  The farther away you get the easier it is to barter or trade.  In the towns and cities, though, that is how payments are made.”

“Ah,” Kibum sighs in wonderment, leaning back in his seat.  They’re pulling onto the gravel drive when he hears her say, “You will be able to make purchases now.  The same pad that scanned my palm will scan your wrist.”

“My wrist?”

“Yes.”

Kibum shifts the bottle so that it’s held tightly in one hand so that he can twist his left arm and better see the mark left by Eunsook’s bite two days ago.  The bright red of its earlier shade has begun to fade to a dark pink.  He’s so focused on the imprint of Eunsook’s teeth in his arm that he does not notice when the truck comes to a stop.

“That is how bonded omegas make purchases when their alphas are not with them.” 

Eunsook’s door opens and he catches the sound of a bag crinkling behind him, another joining in.  Her door slam shuts and he hurries out of the truck to follow her toward the stairs.  Stepping out, Kibum is struck again by how quiet it is.  Eunsook’s home isn’t that far from the city, but the driveway to it is long, and they are far enough away from the road to give the illusion of great solitude, especially in the crisp September air.

“Why wouldn’t their mate be with them?”

Eunsook shrugs as she reaches the door, pressing it open and leaning against it to let Kibum inside.  He takes a bag from her as he makes his way toward the kitchen.

“Many reasons.  There are shops that cater exclusively to omegas where alphas are not permitted, for example.  Also, alphas often simply do not want to accompany their mates on errands such as shopping in the markets.”  She shakes the bag in her hands gently for emphasis, the paper crinkling.  “I am not one of them, though I am willing to let you take charge on occasion if it turns into a task you’d prefer to undertake alone.  Just as long as you allow me to add on an item or two to your list.”

Kibum chuckles.  “I will see what I can do.  These shops that cater to omegas; What kinds are they?”

Eunsook laughs, emptying the bag and wordlessly directing Kibum in emptying his.  “Salons, tea shops, eateries, film houses with selective screenings, gated parks, to name a few.  Having never gone to them, I cannot tell you specifically where all of them are.  I only know that they exist.”

“And will I…” Kibum chuckles, pressing a thumb to the bottom of his lip as he leans against a counter.  “Well, why would you tell me of their existence if you were going to keep me from them?”

Eunsook watches him quietly, her eyes softened by a tender smile.  “We will find where they are and you will go.  We won’t be able to until after the equinox, though,” she says gently.  “Not because I want to keep you from knowing, but because of the Time of Solitude affects the information I can access, especially this close.  Once it has passed, however, we will look for them and I will take you to whichever one you choose.”

“Only one?”  Kibum teases nervously.

Eunsook chuckles.  “Well.  Perhaps two.” 

Another day passes much like the first, mostly in the gentle companionship of strangers who have met and have no reason to dislike each other yet, finding only the good or neutral in one other in the short time they’ve been given.  Only the reminder of the approach of the equinox ever causes any tension so they neither of them mention it this one day it is not necessary to do so.  Not mentioning it means that it is always at the edge of their thoughts, remembering that they are purposing to forget to remember that their time is slipping away.  Still, they try, and in the moments they manage to forget, they find themselves not wholly uncomfortable with each other.

Their unfamiliarity shows in small ways, though.  Kibum carries all of his clothes into the bathing room with him and dresses in the steamy air.  Eunsook twice forgets that Kibum is there and even at afternoon meal begins to prepare food only for one.  They walk outdoors, a closer look at the garden and the fruit trees.  Eunsook describes the house she has built down by the river and points at the bundle of trees, which look no larger than a bouquet of flowers, marking its general location.

The offer is made to take him for a ride there, or to the city or to town, or just to have the crisp near-autumn air blow through their windows as they drive nowhere in particular.  He declines for reasons he cannot explain and so he does not try.  Instead, he retraces their steps from yesterday and relearns everything again so that he is certain he understands it. 

Morning and afternoon meal Eunsook forgets that they had spoken of giving thanks to the Ancients, but at evening meal, without Kibum having ever mentioning it, she does so with an amber tone.  He listens with a little smile, caught in the moment, eyes open though they should not be, cast to the table as he listens to the prayer he has not heard for so many months.  When she finishes he thanks her.  It does not cross his mind that by doing so he has made the circle complete.

Evening comes and they go to their separate rooms after tiredly murmuring a “good evening” to each other.  Kibum changes into his bed clothes and lies down upon the bedding, his window uncovered as it has been each night. 

The moon has grown fuller in just the two nights he has slept under Eunsook’s roof, fuller tonight even.  It mesmerizes him.  That and the silence.

When Kibum had lived with his grand dam in the village where she raised him it had been a quiet neighborhood, but there had still been noise.  A few animals down the road, the occasional late-night motorist, neighbors who had forgotten the hour and were still talking late into the night.  Even the Chois, who lived in a secluded neighborhood on the edge of town had some distractions in the night, though it too was quiet there, far away from the noise and bustle of the city, and much closer to the cool and calm of the woods.

It’s the darkness, he realizes, sitting up.  There’s no artificial light to warring against what is glowing naturally in the night sky.  He walks to the window and rests his arms on the ledge, looking up.  Stars sparkle all around a sky that is blacker than any he has ever seen: He is not accustomed to such darkness. 

On a whim, he steps gingerly around his bed and towards the door, pressing slowly on the handle before pulling it open.  He leans his head out to look up the hall towards Eunsook’s own door.  It's partly open, as she always leaves it, and he thinks he can hear the bed creak softly beneath her. 

He counts to twenty to see if he hears anything again, and when he doesn't, he turns the opposite way and heads down the hall towards the kitchen.  He passes the dining table and turns when he reaches the sofa.  The windows of the alcove face the trees beside it and he leans on them with both hands to look up into the night.

The stars sparkle in the sky, tiny diamonds on a ream of velvet.  The moon blazes beside them in a spectacle of glory all its own.  Even clearer than what he could see in his room, and yet still not enough.    Kibum's seen stars before, sometimes even as clearly as he can see them now.  The last time was with Taemin when they laid in Taemin’s bed playing with each other’s fingers waiting for their next visit to the heat houses.  Now, though, he stares at them in wonder in a home he now shares with an alpha that he is bonded to, Taemin nearly a day’s journey away. 

On impulse, he turns and head towards the door, pulls it open, and steps out onto the deck and into the blackness. 

 The air is sharp, biting cold.  He doesn’t feel it enough to step back inside.  Instead, he takes the stairs down to the yard and a few steps away from the house so that he can stare up at the sky with nothing between him and the stars.

“So beautiful,” he murmurs.  He wraps his arms tight around his waist and watches as the moon moves slowly in the sky above him, the earth rotating gently away.  There’s something more than celestial beauty pulling him out into the dark night.  He can feel it.  Instinctively he knows that it is in some way tied to the equinox and his impending heat.  The thought sends a shiver up his spine.  As long as he can stand it, he pushes it away and stands in the cold to watch the stars.  It’s when his teeth start chattering that he knows he must go back inside, surprised when he begins walking to discover that he had gone out in bare feet.

The wood stairs are cool under his toes as he climbs back up, arms still tight around his waist.  He reaches for the door and realizes then that he does not know how to open it.

Eunsook had been the one to do so every time they had gone indoors and every time she had had it open already by the time he reached it.  Looking at it now, he’s startled to discover that it has no handle for him to grasp.  In the moonlight, he leans in and peers at the molding around the door frame itself.  A panel appears and he presses it.  Nothing happens and he begins to panic.

The door is locked and he’s trapped on the deck out in the dark and cold.

“There must be something,” he mutters, patting again at the molding and finding nothing but the panel he had already tried.  He bites his lip and tries not to cry the tears of frustration beginning to burn in his eyes.

 He presses the panel again and leaves his palm there, remembering how the payment pad had lit up beneath Eunsook’s hand at the market.  It remains dark and silent.  He takes a few steps back and looks down the deck to where Eunsook’s window sits at the very far end of the house, too far for him to reach by any method.  He bites his lip again as he steps forward and presses the pad a third time.  To his relief, a small circle turns red and stays.  There is no sound, but at least there has been some response to his actions.  He hugs his arms across his chest and tucks his fists beneath his biceps and hopes that there will be a response from inside as well.

Enough time passes that he begins to shake from the chill and there’s no one at the door.  He’s about to lean in again when the kitchen light suddenly glows through its window down at the other end of the house and he swallows anxiously when he hears the click of door opening.

Eunsook stands before him bleary-eyed.  She wears an over-sized mauve shirt paired with mauve and black plaid flannel pants.  The hair that he has only once seen her wear down in their three days together is so now, ebony waves tousled and touching her elbows.  She sways a little to the side as she blinks.  “Junghee?”

“No,” Kibum replies with chattering teeth, frowning in confusion and fear.  Her hand is still on the door and she’s braced the other against the door frame: He can’t get in until she moves.   Eunsook blinks a few times before leaning in and squinting at him.  “Kibum?”

He nods quickly.  “Yes.”  

“What are you doing outside?”

Kibum swallows, blinking back the frustrated tears that are threatening again to spill.  “Looking at the stars.  And the moon.  May I come in?”

She nods sleepily, stepping aside.  He’s taken one step across the deck when her eyes open wide.  “Oh!  Kibum!  Come on!  Get inside, you must be freezing!”  The door is pulled all the way open and she waves him in briskly.  He hurries the three steps across the deck and then through the doorway into the living room.  It’s lit by the light of the kitchen and he watches her shut the door again.  “Are you alright? Here.  Take this.”  A blanket that she had been curled up in earlier that evening, a book in hand and a cup of tea in the other, she pulls up off the sofa and quickly tucks it around his shoulders like a cape.  “Are you alright?” she asks again.  “Were you out there very long?  I can make you tea.”  She begins to turn toward the kitchen and he quickly shakes his head. 

“I am alright.  It was not long, no.  I was just frightened.  The door would not open for me.”

Eunsook nods, chewing on her lip a moment before sighing.  “No, it wouldn’t.  Not for anyone but myself.  The panel is imprinted.  Only mine will unlock the door.”

Kibum’s eyes widen.  “Then I can never unlock it?”

“No,” Eunsook laughs awkwardly, a hand rising to rub at the nape of her neck, “that is not it at all.  That is not how it will be.  You will be imprinted as well.  We just have not done it yet.  Many of the shops are closing in preparation for the equinox.  And, of course, I could not have you imprinted before we were bonded.  Apologies for not explaining earlier.  I didn’t think to mention it.  I did not think it would ever come up.”

“I did not mean to inconvenience you this night,” Kibum answers tightly, tugging the blanket close.  “Apologies of my own.”

“Oh, Kibum,” Eunsook sighs.  “The fault was mine.  Let us leave it at that.  Was the moon very beautiful?  And the stars as well?”

“Yes, quite.”

Eunsook shakes her head.  “I do not believe you.”

Kibum frowns, fists tightening.  “I-what?”

“No,” she says, moving toward the door and stepping into a pair of gardening boots.  She picks up Kibum’s shoes and lays them on the ground before him.  Standing up, she adds, “You are going to have to show me.”  Kibum’s eyes narrow as he watches her slip into the coat she had hung on the familiar hook just inside the door.

“Am I to wear the blanket?”

Eunsook shrugs.  “If you like.  Or you can put on your own coat.  And then the blanket on top.  Either way, I want to see the stars as well.”

A part of Kibum wants to fight, to argue, to point out that she doesn’t need him to stand out in her own yard and look up at the night sky.  It is a tiny, fractured part born out of the fear he’d felt alone in the dark, and eclipsed by warmth of Eunsook’s smile from the doorway when she says, “Hurry!”  She’s doing this for him and she doesn’t have to.  He does want to go back out and look up at the sky, but he doesn’t want to go back out alone.  And now he won’t be.  He nods, handing her the blanket so that he can slip on his own coat and step into his shoes.  He takes it back and bundles himself tightly within its thick folds.

Her hand at the door, she asks, “Ready?”

With a quick nod he answers, “Yes.”

~

Eunsook wakes up knowing she needs to talk to Kibum.  The wall stares back at her blankly as she rubs a hand at her chest and thinks of her dam.  There were so many moments in their brief time together where the refrain “Lead well and lead wisely” were whispered into her young ears and she is now met with a scenario where that guidance is sorely needed.

And the overriding ache of a lost dam causes her eyes again to close.

What might her dam give as advice now?  Or rather, what would she have given before the Ceremony of Bonding had taken place?  As it is, what Eunsook has are Junghee’s words and her own memories of Junghee’s eyes the days after that first solstice together.  Eunsook is an alpha, though, and she knows what that means.  And now she must explain it to Kibum, if he does not understand it already.

And she does not think he does.  Because she had seen the way he looked at the sky the night past and she had felt the pull of the moon herself.  There are still two moonlit nights between Eunsook lying in her bed thinking of their mating cycle and when Kibum will be in that bed with her. 

She opens her eyes again and stares at the wall.

When she steps out into the hallway, the smell of a meal being prepared meets her nose.  She sniffs tentatively as she follows the scent to the kitchen where her bond mate stands beside the stove.  A simple meal of oats is cooking.  “Good morning,” she says softly, hoping that her presence does not disturb him.  He seemed frantic in the night, though calmed by her arrival at the door, and positively at peace when they had returned inside.  That was beneath the moonlight and now it is in the stark of a morning light that she looks upon his face.  He turns to her with a smile that is almost sheepish, a bit self-conscious. 

“Good morning,” is his own reply.  “I began morning meal.  It is only oats, though.  I thought something simple would be a good start to begin practicing to care for the home.” 

She nods encouragingly, regretting the loss of the night berries the day before.  “Oats are good.  They are often what I have.  Perhaps we could have some pears chopped in with a little nectar?  I will go pull some from one of the trees.”  He nods as she walks away.  At the door, she slips on her coat and steps into the boots she wears for gardening, keeping her eyes low as she steps outside.

The air is brisk and she does not hurry across the yard to the fruit trees.  There is a rush but she is avoiding it as much as she can.  It is a conversation that must be had but she is not the one who should be having it.  Or rather, she does not want to have it.  It is, however the topic that has caused the only tension in their brief time of knowing one another.  It is also the topic that must be addressed soon.  Their actions will soon overtake their words.

Kibum smiles with gratitude and dismisses her offer to slice the fruit.  Instead, he hands her a cup of coffee, eyes suddenly widening as he gasps, muttering, “Apologies.  I did not ask how you enjoy your drink.”

“Kibum-”

“I know,” he hurries on, bustling through the kitchen and searching through the cupboards, “no formalities.” 

Two cupboard doors bang closed and a third opens as Eunsook stifles a laugh.  “Yes, true, but I only meant to say that I drink my coffee with brown sugar.  The cubes are in a glass jar in the second cupboard beside the coffee.”  Eunsook presses the knuckles of a fist to her mouth to keep from laughing as Kibum quietly repeats her instructions, finding the jar and carrying it to her as though it were filled with precious objects rather than simple sugar.  “Thank you.”  He nods, rubbing at his neck absently and she frowns slightly when she sees that he is wearing his collar.  “You do not have to wear that.  There is no need when we are alone.”  Kibum looks down and then turns away, his hand dropping to his side.

He turns back to the oats and stirs them with a wide wooden spoon.  “I understand.  Please, have your drink.  I will say when the food is finished.”  He stands with his back to her in a manner that seems somehow sad and defeated.  It has to have been the collar, but it seems an odd thing for him to become despondent over.  Eunsook thinks to say something more when the sudden thought of what the collar currently covers bursts into her head.  To thwart the thought from growing, she takes a steep drink.

Eunsook lets their morning meal pass without broaching the subject of the equinox.  After they eat, she watches from the deck as Kibum moves about the garden, taking visual measurements and calling out questions to Eunsook.  He walks through the fruit trees, moving in and out of her line of sight, coming back with a smile, shirt held out and filled with a small pile of ripened fruit.  “For our morning meals!” he calls as he walks across the yard to her.

Their mid-day meal passes in a similar fashion with Kibum again preparing and Eunsook being left to observe.  This time, as Kibum finishes clearing their dishes, she catches his attention just as he closes the dishwasher.

“Kibum.”  It is only his name but somehow the way she says it seems to set him on edge.  Before her eyes, he turns from an omega happy to have finished their domestic task to an omega cowering in submission before their alpha.  She despises it.  “It is time that we spoke of the equinox.”  He nods and places the towel in his hand on the counter, walking meekly to where she sits at the kitchen table and taking a seat across from her.  He keeps his eyes on the table.  “We do not have much time left,” she begins, “and I wanted to let you know that I am anxious as well.  If there is anything I can do or anything you need to know-”

“Will it hurt?”  His eyes stay cast down and his voice is so soft.  Eunsook blinks and tilts her head in confusion.  “Will what hurt?”  Kibum’s mouth opens and closes, his eyes suddenly falling shut.  The struggle to ask his question has him digging his nails into his palms and Eunsook frowns.  When he opens his eyes, they turn quickly back to the table.  “What is it?” she asks, growing concerned.  He licks his lips and looks back up, taking a deep breath.  

“A knot.”  Eunsook’s brows furrow further.  “A…what were you told?” 

Kibum looks at her warily.  “Told?”

She nods.  “Of mating.  Of a heat with an alpha.  Of a first heat with an alpha.” 

Kibum’s frowning, beginning to look frightened.  “I…why would a first heat be different?” 

Eunsook’s heart begins to beat in her chest, her stomach dropping.  “Did no omega speak to you of this before the bonding?” 

Kibum shakes his head slowly.  “No.” 

Eunsook sighs and shifts in her seat, eyes closing and the bridge of her nose pinched between two fingers.  “Ancients,” she breathes out.  “So, you know nothing.”  Her eyes burst open in a sudden panic.  “Were you at least seen by a healer before the ceremony?”

Kibum blushes, leaning back slightly.  “I was,” he assures her.  “And I do know a little.  There is…a knot.”

“Yes,” she sighs, looking up.  “There is a knot.”  She takes a deep breath and looks back down at her mate.  “What else do you know?”  Eunsook watches as Kibum begins to fold in on himself.

“Alphas…you…”  He swallows heavily before barely whispering, “A bite.” 

Eunsook sighs from across the table, her heart breaking.  “No, it won’t hurt.  Knots do not hurt.  The end of the cycle, of the whole cycle, will leave you exhausted and sore, though.  Especially the first one.  And the bite may hurt for another day or more.”  Kibum’s eyes widen and his knuckles begin to turn white from the crescents of his fingernails digging into his palms.  Eunsook sits up and leans back, arms crossed tightly across her chest and one leg thrown over the other, ankle tapping against the other calf.  “An omega should have explained this to you.  A guardian or an Avowed.  There are…alphas are not the ones to explain a first heat to an omega.”

To her surprise, Kibum puffs in indignation at her words.  “I have had heats before.” 

Eunsook watches him thoughtfully.  “What were they like?” she asks softly. 

He seems perplexed by the question and a bit of the indignation fades.  “They were…they were normal.”

Nodding, she presses on.  “What did you during your heats?”

“I went to the heat houses,” he answers with a single shoulder shrug. 

“When?”

His eyes narrow and his tone is cautious when he asks, “What do you mean?”

“Only just,” Eunsook sighs, tapping her leg, “how soon before your heat did you go?”

“The morning before,” Kibum answers confidently.

“And how long would you stay?”

“We stayed until the afternoon after.”

“Then it was for two night and three days that you were under the care of the Avowed in the heat houses?”

“Yes.”

Eunsook nods, slowly beginning to understand what Kibum may think his heat might be like.  “And what did you do during those hours?”

“The Avowed brought us drinks that made us sleep.” 

She raises a brow, a bemused smile at her lips.  “For two nights and three days?”  He nods quickly.  “You slept in beds?”

He’s quick to scoff at her question.  “Of course.”

“Were you in these beds alone?”

“The beds were in a room together,” he explains.  “There were many rooms with many beds.  Taemin’s village is too small to have their own heat house.  He and Jongin go to the one in Minho’s city.  That is the one that I go…that I went to as well.”

“So,” Eunsook begins, skipping over Kibum’s misstep, “you have never been awake for a heat?”

Kibum shakes his head.  “No.”

Eunsook sighs and her leg, that has been tapping the entire time they spoke, stills.

“That is not what will happen.”

Kibum’s voice is very quiet when he asks, “What will?”

“The same fevers that were treated with drink will take hold.  They will be stronger now that you are bonded.  And your body will respond to my scent in ways that will confuse you.  The same will happen with me.  The knot will not hurt, Kibum, but…”  She pauses, uncertain how to explain to the omega before her what she, the alpha, will do to him in so few days.  And what he will do to himself.  “You may be hurt, Kibum.  No, that is not true.  You will be hurt, Kibum.  How much depends on how willing you are.”

Eunsook watches as Kibum leans back looking absolutely terrified.  “Willing?”

“Omegas fight the alpha their first heats.  Always.  Whether they have known each other for ten years or ten days.  The intensity of the struggle may depend on those factors, but the fact remains that there will be a fight.”

“No,” Kibum argues, shaking his head, “I won’t fight.”

“Kibum.  It’s a frightening thing, to be so vulnerable to another person.  Especially an omega in heat, a true heat for the first time presented with an alpha in rut.  Ruts are intense, they can be dark.  And the omega’s response is built up over generations.  It has nothing to do with the individuals and everything to do with genetic memory.  What you believe you will do now is not the same as what will happen.”

Kibum shakes his head again, gaze resolute.  “I won’t fight.”

Eunsook sighs.  “Every omega fights, Kibum.”

“Have you been with many omegas?” he asks curiously.  To her surprise, she’s shocked by his question.

She shakes her head.  “Just one.”

“Then perhaps it was just them,” he says confidently.

“Kibum-”

“You said that an alpha should not be explaining this to the omega,” Kibum says carefully.  “Maybe it is because the alpha does not know as much as an omega?  Thank you for explaining what you know.”  He stands, fingers finally unclenched and she can see the dark red divots in his palms.  “However,” he adds, shaking his head, “I won’t fight.”

There is nothing more she can say.  Everything that she had needed to warn him of she had and if he was unwilling to heed it there was nothing more she could do.  She nods her head with a tight smile and looks down at the table.

When Kibum doesn’t leave, she looks up to find him watching her with an inscrutable gaze.

“Kibum?”

“I have another question,” he broaches carefully, “about the equinox.”

“Of course.”  She uncrosses her arms and shifts in her chair so that she is leaning forward and resting her arms on the table, fingers folded the way she always had when Junghee became afraid.  “Ask me anything, please.”

“Will I…” he stops abruptly, a slight flush to his cheeks.  Before she can press further, he closes his eyes and blurts out, “Will I become pregnant?” 

She watches him in wonder, thinking herself a fool for not having thought to speak of such an obvious topic.   

“No,” she answers gently.  That definitely won’t happen.  Not yet.”  The shiver that rustles up his spine doesn’t go unnoticed by her watchful gaze, but he only nods before murmuring an excuse to leave.  Soon, she’s alone in the kitchen with her fingers linked together thinking of Junghee and wishing she had asked her friend better questions before they had been forced to say good-bye.

When her head falls again to her pillow, and her gaze again to the wall in the darkness of her room, her eyes refuse to close and she is left even more concerned after having spoken to Kibum than she was before.  He doesn’t understand what she is saying to him.  And if he doesn’t trust her words…  She blinks in the blackness.  If he doesn’t trust her words now how little will he trust them after her actions in the next three days?  At least she warned him.  There is that consolation. 

Eunsook stares blankly at the wall as the moonlight moves slowly along its flat surface.

~

The water is cool against the heat that’s beginning to burn beneath Kibum’s skin.  He looks up from beneath the gentle waves at the ceiling, the wooden panes blurred.  To his eyes, it’s not as different as they appeared when he had looked at them before submerging. 

The lights are off and there’s only the faintest glimmer of a setting sun slicing through the window.  He had kept the water colder than usual, though still warm, a mix that in its own way reflects the imbalance of his mind and body.  Everything is different but not enough, not quite, nothing he can pinpoint yet.  It’s obviously his heat, but it’s so soon: There are still two days until the equinox. 

He can’t breathe.

Bursting through the water, he still can’t catch his breath, his lungs gasping at air that they can’t hold, not enough, not nearly enough. 

He lies his head against the edge of the tub and stares at the wall across the room.  It’s beautiful, he thinks, such a beautiful shade of blue.  Closing his eyes, he groans in the water, his hand gliding over the planes of his body, never sure of where it should land.

After he’s bathed and dried and redressed, he wanders through the house, blinking.  He feels warm, confused.  Kibum rubs his chest and frowns at Eunsook who watches him from the kitchen.  He stumbles to the main room, falling finally to the sofa.

“I don’t even know you,” he mumbles from where he sits, not sure what he’s saying or why, only that he needs her to know these things.  She turns her back to him and continues slicing the laurel peppers.

It’s too soon for him to feel this way, he thinks hazily.  Maybe he’s made himself a little sick from too much time in the yard.  A chill has set in, though it is still only mid-September, and he has not taken as much care to keep warm as perhaps he should have.

He feels warm now.  His hand rubs against his chest and he sighs in discontent.  “I don’t even know you,” he mumbles again, quieter this time.  The muscles in her shoulders flex and he watches them too long, too intensely.  He can smell her from across the room and over the spices brewing on the stove waiting for the peppers that splice beneath her knife. 

And he wants her next to him.

He falls to the pillow beside him and clutches it close as he whimpers, “I don’t know you.”

She offers him some of the soup but he waves her away.  Her nostrils flare minutely and her pupils are slightly dilated.  The day has darkened and so have her eyes. 

Instead, he leaves the room, walking on shaky feet until he stumbles near the hallway door.  He presses a hand against the wall to steady the remaining steps to his bedroom.  The door thuds heavily behind him and he weaves in the darkness, the light of the moon now disorienting rather than comforting: He could have sworn he only just woke up. 

His body burns and aches.  He loses his shirt in a struggle of weakening limbs, shivering with fever by the time he falls against the pliant sheets.  Asleep almost immediately, he’s bound in fitful dreams that have him curled into a ball with tight fists, whispering the names of his love and of his alpha as he shivers in the dark.

~

There are only hours now, barely more than a day, and neither of them are well.

Kibum has never been awake for this part of his heat and Eunsook has never been with an omega she was bonded to at this point.

Neither of them know what they are doing or how to respond, though Eunsook knows the most.

It is only that Kibum’s refrain from the night before “I don’t know you, I don’t know you” won’t stop echoing in her head even as words and thoughts begin to dull. 

She does not know him.

And that is terrifying.

~

Kibum cannot catch his breath and he cannot catch his vision.  He is so hot and dizzy and tired, as though he had done so much and needs to rest to recuperate.  And yet so hungry too.  He had eaten under Eunsook’s watchful eyes, noting the way her nostril’s flared and her eyes were darkened in the morning light.  They didn’t speak, only ate, and soon he was again in bed, writhing in a fit of dreams that kept him down for he didn’t know how long.

He wakes up long enough to eat once more, falling asleep to the sound of Eunsook in the kitchen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm hoping that the next chapter will be edited & up in two weeks, but if not it should be by 5 September. I miss Taemin terribly (& Jongin too) so I'd like for him to make an appearance as well. Time will tell. :)
> 
> Also, I had Eunsook decorating her home in shades of purple long before Taemin revealed his affection for the color. Again my writing predicted canon. ;)


	8. Rise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Omegas fight the alpha their first heats. Always. Whether they have known each other for ten years or ten days. The intensity of the struggle may depend on those factors, but the fact remains that there will be a fight.”
> 
> “No,” Kibum argues, shaking his head, “I won’t fight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: the equinox scene has dub-con elements, brief non-graphic violence (a bite), & there is non-graphic vomiting after.

Taemin watches Kibum and Eunsook leave the temple from his seat beside his brother.  The ceremony had been brief: The claim, the ritual cleansing, the blessing, the collar, the bite.

The bite.  The one that would come after his.

The one that would mark Kibum until Eunsook’s death whereas his will only stay the night.

The crowd grows loud around Taemin as the finality of what he has just witnessed cinches at his heart.  Jongin’s hand at his shoulder goes unnoticed.  

And he has still not seen the face of the alpha to whom he is Intended.

 

He does not speak from the night spent with Kibum before his love’s Ceremony of Bonding until the morning he and Jongin leave for the heat houses.  It is not intentional.  And he is not aware of his own silence.

His sire makes a few attempts in the early days, growing frustrated quickly by Taemin’s utter lack of response.  It is his mate’s cool hand covering his own, and the way Jongin looks at his younger brother that keeps the alpha’s frustration from morphing into anger.  Instead, it dissipates slowly, falling away like ash and he’s left instead with the pain of a sire watching their young mourn in silence.

Taemin will forgive him.  That certainty is all that keeps Jinki from falling into his own quiet grief.  He closes the door to his study and closes his eyes in the dark and prays to the Ancients that what he has done is what was needed to be done and not simply what was easiest.

Jongin manages to keep Taemin clean, washing his hair and holding the brush prepared with paste out to him so that his teeth won’t be neglected.  His dam catches his eye and that’s enough to make a few bites of the meals they still share as a family disappear from his plate.  More often than not, however, it’s nearly as full when he leaves as it was when he sat down.

“It won’t always be like this,” Jinki murmurs in the dark, one arm propped beneath his head and the other across his chest, his hand squeezing hers as they lie in bed.  Minjung nods with doubts and a heart that aches.  Her mate has always been her comfort but at this moment he is the source of pain to her youngest and she can’t find it within herself to wholly believe him.

In his own room, Taemin stares out at the stars and finally breathes in full when the light of the moon washes over him.

In the mornings, Taemin follows Jongin wordlessly, gazing off at nothing.  At last, it is time for them to leave for the heat houses.  He steps outside in his thin linen suit without his jacket while Jongin is the one to bid their dam farewell.  

The ride is predictably silent on Taemin’s end, his head turned to the side and eyes vacant even as they seem to watch the passing scenery.  Jongin covers the quiet with his own conversation, half-hearted remarks about the weather and the meal he looks forward to when the days away from home come to an end.  

It is unusual for their sire to take them as the house usually sends an Avowed to gather the young omegas.  However, with Kibum gone, Jongin soon to follow, and Taemin in such a state, Jinki has chosen to do it himself this season.  Glancing back at his youngest, he is glad of it.

His heart sinks when Taemin leaves without a word spoken, no farewell given, though he had expected none.  Hope, however, is hard to break and he swallows back the disappointment.  Jongin’s embrace is quick and his farewell a breathless, “We will see you soon, Appa” as he dashes out of the vehicle to chase after his wandering brother.  Jinki watches as Jongin grasps Taemin’s hand and leads him to the temple doors.

They are only two among a crowd of youth, young omegas not yet bonded.  Many of them are in Covenant; a few are of age to be Intended to an alpha. Taemin is one of the only to be neither, or rather to appear to be so.  It strikes Jinki now as his sons disappear into the crowd that it may have seemed to others, or even to his own son, that it was because he was not his young by blood that these things were perceived to be true.

It was always enough that the guardians and elders who needed to know did.  No alphas would be sniffing around his son.  Taemin would always be safe and his future would always be secure.  And yet…

Jinki waits until he can no longer see Jongin and Taemin in the crowd before he leaves.  He had always kept his son from preying alphas, he thinks as he drives away. Omegas had never crossed his mind.

 

Jongin holds Taemin’s hand tight and his own breath even tighter.  There are so many other omegas to get through to get to the room he wants to get to. Moonkyu waves at him but he shakes his head quickly and, as subtly as he can, tilts it toward Taemin and his vacant stare.  Jongin turns away before he can see whether Moonkyu understands his meaning: He’s certain their friend does.

The room is dark and empty, the warmest room of the heat house and therefore the one they all instinctively avoid.    He leads Taemin to a bed in a corner, the farthest from the door, and waits beside him for the Avowed to come with their drinks. Absently, he runs his fingers through Taemin’s hair, loose over his shoulders and flowing dark down his back. It should be braided as his is, but Jongin hasn’t the heart to put any more constraints on his brother than have already been.

Helpless is how he feels.  Taemin is not so very much younger than Jongin, but he is younger, and in this moment, he seems also frail.  Jongin is reminded of the cub his sire brought to their home all those seasons ago when he himself was only four.  Lost in the woods he had been then and lost in the world he is now.  Jongin leans over and kisses Taemin’s temple, squeezes his shoulder, and prays softly to the Ancients.

 

After the Avowed feed them their tonics, the warmth of Jongin’s hand is again on his and Taemin finds himself tucked up under his elder brother’s protective embrace, curled up on the bed.  Another kiss is pressed to his temple and he closes his eyes as his brother’s words cover him like a quilt; another layer of protection against an anxiety he cannot quell on his own.

“Appa would not have allowed them to bond if he did not trust Eunsook,” Jongin murmurs warmly in his ear.  “If he did not trust her to care for Kibum he would not have allowed it.  There must a reason he chose to have them bonded before rather than after the equinox. Kibum will be well.”

Taemin’s throat burns as he bites out, “Will _we_?”

Jongin says nothing more.  

Taemin begins to dream.

_It’s her again.  He’s begun dreaming of her more and more.  Her back is to him, long ebony hair flowing down her back.  It flutters when she turns to look at him._

_“Taemin,” she says warmly, knowingly.  He knows her too.  He just cannot remember.  He looks around at everything he cannot see.  He never can. It is always only her his eyes can focus on._

_Turning back to her familiar face, he asks, “Who are you?”_

_“You still do not know?”_

_“You never tell me your name,” he says with a sigh._

_She laughs as she always does.  “We’ll meet soon enough.”  Her smile is coy as she adds, “It will be good to see you again.  The last time you were no more than a cub.”_

_~_

 

_Taemin’s hands are soft against his ribs and Kibum breathes out a sigh when familiar thumbs move to slip over his hips.  His eyes are closed as he shifts in the blackness beneath Taemin’s gentle ministrations and he leans back against the pillows in the dark._

_A pair of lips brush against his own once and then again.  And now Taemin lies beside him on the bed, Taemin’s bed, Kibum’s eyes still closed so that the smell and warmth of Taemin heat his blood._

_A hand from before cups his face; a thumb brushing over his cheek.  The lips kiss his neck now, and now his collarbone. His breaths quicken the farther Taemin moves down and he’s breathless by the time there’s a kiss pressed to his hip._

_He opens his eyes a moment to see the glow in his love’s own eyes reflected back; their bond manifesting itself in Taemin’s gaze.  And then Taemin’s lips move once more and Kibum’s eyes flutter wildly as he gasps._

 

Kibum wanders out into the hallway in a daze. He had only meant to lie down for a little while, his head heavy and his skin beginning to burn.  He’s not sure how much time has passed, only that the noise Eunsook had been making in the kitchen when he’d gone to his room has stopped.

The house, in fact, is silent.  

He swallows, his head still heavy, and he wipes at the back of his neck, surprised to find it damp.  He looks down and realizes that he’s taken off his shirt at some point and now stands in the kitchen in loose pants and bare feet. Abruptly, his blood runs cold and every nerve in his body jolts.  He turns slowly, gasping when he sees Eunsook in the doorway.

Her eyes glow unnaturally green with pupils that are thin slits and there’s a sheen across her brow.  The hair she’s worn tied up since he met her flows down her shoulders to the tips of her elbows.  There’s a low rumble in her throat, not a growl exactly, but a show of dominance nonetheless.

And she’s naked.

Terrified, he bolts toward the door, panting with a heart that thumps heavy in his chest.  The boards of the patio are icy cold beneath his feet.  He makes it to the third step when he feels strong arms around his waist.  He struggles, clawing at the arms and kicking until a piercing bite at the base of his neck makes him fall limp.  A whimper warms his throat when her teeth disappear and he leans into the soft brushing of her fingers against his torso. There’s a shuffling of their bodies and then Eunsook’s hair covers his eyes, her neck his nose and suddenly everything is lush: the air is fresher, colors brighter, and the smell of Eunsook is everything he needs.  

She picks him up and carries him back inside.

 

As the door to Eunsook’s bedroom shuts with an ominous finality, Kibum begins to cry, shaking with chill, fever, and fear.   He lies on his back where Eunsook dropped him on her bed only moments ago, moments that set ablaze a burn in Kibum’s body he’s never felt before.  The confusion he’d begun to feel earlier when he’d murmured “I don’t know you” had intensified only now he needs her as well: As much as he doesn’t know her he needs her.

From the door she turns to look at him, eyes still aglow: she’s watching him like a predator about to consume their prey.  Tears blur his vision as he moves to roll off the bed intending to hide beneath it.  His ankle is caught in her grasp and he begins to struggle, thrashing with sheets in his fists and a scream burning through his throat, primal and wordless. A low growl has him whimpering and the faintest baring of her teeth, the threat of another bite, has him stilling.

Never has he been so frightened.

When she pulls him back, Kibum submits with tears and sniffles, shuffling up against Eunsook because that’s the only time the burn in his veins cools.  A sniffle has Eunsook’s nose at his neck, a soft tongue coming up to lick at a tear trail. Her forehead nuzzles against his cheek. Kibum turns so that their foreheads brush against each other and it is more of a question than a statement when he murmurs, “Alpha”.  And then he’s mated.  

Kibum pushes his palms back on the sheets. Even now, even with Eunsook inside him and her hands at his sides, wrists warm at his hips he tries to escape, tries to scurry up the bed, to dig his heels into the mattress.  His back aches at the strain.  His breaths come in heavy gasps, air that puffs through a mouth that never closes and a throat that threatens to choke him with heavy swallows.

He’s on his side with his ankles crossed when Eunsook’s knot takes hold, the bonding bite Eunsook’s teeth had only just marked him with still thrumming at his neck.  Slowly, his head clears, the fire that cools only by her touch ebbing, and he stares at the window that burns bright with an early afternoon sun.

He hears her murmur his name but he does not answer, his eyes wide in panic.  The terror from before has lessened but he’s still afraid.  He locks his fingers together until his knuckles turn white; he tucks them beneath his chin, shivering, scared as much by his response to her as by her actions.  

As Eunsook’s knot loosens so does his lucidity, the burn again spreading from his belly through to his mind and as soon as he’s free he turns to her in desperation and despair.  

In an instant she’s over him, breaths heavy and palms at either side of his shoulders, eyes glowing a bright emerald. He kicks his legs lightly in protest as he pulls her closer, sighing in relief as soon as she’s again inside of him.

The next time her knot clears his head stars sparkle in a pale violet sky.  

 

~

 

Eunsook watches Kibum sleep with his fists curled tight at his chest.  A bruise digs deep into the tender skin at his neck, a dark blossom blooming unnaturally. There was going to be a bite, always, of that they had been both aware.  That she would bite him twice was unthinkable.  That the first one would be so deep and harsh…  She swallows and clings to the wrist of the fist tucked tight beneath her throat as she shifts uncomfortably beneath the sheet: Anxiety courses through every nerve.  

If only they had been given more time…

Every word she had thought toward him had gone ignored by Kibum, and even when she was screaming in her mind in terror for him to stop he kept running out the door.  The only way her fevered brain could stifle his flight was to bite him and she, to her clear-headed shame, had.  And now her bond mate’s neck was indigo and molted, a flora of broken capillaries and bruising skin marred by her own teeth.  His protector made his attacker.

She remembers when it was Junghee who had looked at her with panicked eyes, pupils filled and skin hot.  There had still been a struggle, but her thoughts had seemed to calm Junghee some; she certainly had not fled to the door.  It had taken a full day for Junghee to be able to leave the bed, another before she would look Eunsook in the eye, and another before there wasn’t fear there when she did.

 

The months between the solstice and the equinox were tense, a tide of a resumption of their casual friendship and Junghee’s sudden remembrances of what had transpired, looking at Eunsook as an aggressor.  

As the equinox neared, Eunsook had been unsure of what Junghee wanted, of what she wanted herself.  If it was always like that…  They both had been assured that it wasn’t, but it is hard to trust another’s word on so heavy a matter without evidence, especially when you have taken the first step and found it to lead to something so much more terrifying than either of you had expected.  Ultimately, Junghee came to her a week early and had lain with her in bed, unclothed with Eunsook’s hand on her face, the way Eunsook liked and the way she hoped would make the next Season easier to bear.  

“If you smell of _you_ more than _alpha_ ,” Junghee whispered, “perhaps it will not be so…”  her eyes slipped away and the rest of her thought was left unspoken.

“I will do my best,” Eunsook had vowed, “to make it easier for you.”

Junghee had only nodded.

And Ancients was it easier.  Junghee’s eyes shone before, during, after, looking at Eunsook as though she were the most beautiful of all creation and Junghee was blessed to be breathing the same air.  

In her _mind_ , Eunsook believed it would be the same for Kibum.  It was how it always was: First heats were a curse and every heat after a blessing from the Ancients.  In her _heart_ , however, Eunsook was uncertain in her faith.

 

~

 

Kibum wakes with a gasp.  Sitting up with a start, his vision blurs white, neck burning, and every muscle screams at him to lie back down.  His head falls back again and it takes a few squinted blinks for him to recognize the dimly lit room as his own.  

Sunlight burns at the edges of his thin reed blinds and the bedding that covers him is a crisp white, not the soft violet and gray of Eunsook’s bed.  He shivers at the onslaught of memories both stark and muddled, a fevered dream that has left physical scars.  The burn at his neck throbs and he hisses through his teeth when the swelling bruise stings beneath wary fingertips.

Eunsook’s scent, now changed indelibly for him, grows heavy at the door and when he turns, hissing again as the wound in his neck protests against the action, he finds her holding a tray with eyes wide, looking frightened in her own home.

“You should eat,” she nearly whispers from just outside the doorway.  “May I?” A move is made on her part to step inside.  He recoils, his own eyes widening in confusion.  She licks her lips and he can see that her hands are beginning to shake, her breath growing ragged.  “Here.” She sets the tray down at the table beside the bed, near him as much as it can be while keeping as far away as possible.  Taking a step back, she takes in a deep breath through her mouth.  “You should eat,” she repeats.  He stares at her silently.  She nods and leaves, closing the door behind her.

Kibum sits in the quiet, eyes on the tray though his thoughts are elsewhere.  Mindlessly, he tugs it closer and inspects its contents: a cup of tea with a pot beside it, a plate of toasted bread, small bowls of midnight berry preserves and creamed butter, and a pear cut into thin slices.  A simple meal, a light meal, just enough.  Kibum lifts the cup of tea to his lips and takes a delicate sip. Hot, rich, with just a hint of spice; a good choice.  He leans against the headboard and drinks slowly, careful not to move his head too much.

Still in bed, the last remnants of a second cup of tea warming his palm, Kibum is startled by the sudden slapping off bare feet against the floor outside his room, growing louder as they hit the tiles of the bathing room across the hall.  A sudden, loud ‘thump’ is followed by the horrifying sound of retching and then sudden quiet.  Just as he is about to call Eunsook’s name, the retching echoes again.  Concerned, he places the cup on the table beside his bed as he gingerly turns upon the mattress, finding with every move pain in muscles throughout his body he didn’t even know existed.  Slowly, he presses his feet to the floor and takes in several measured breathes when his vision temporarily whites out.  One foot is placed delicately before the other, a hand pressed to the wall for balance as he makes his way unsteadily toward the door.

His hand is on the knob when he hears the sound again and he closes his eyes at the swirl of nausea in his stomach in response. The door opens an inch in his hand and he squints to look through the narrow opening.  The bathing room door across the hall sits wide open and he can see the back of Eunsook’s head and the soles of her feet; they’re bare and her hair is bundled in one hand with the other braced against the back of the toilet, her breaths coming in shallow pants.  A few moments pass and then the lid is closed, the loud ‘swish’ of the toilet flushing echoing across the tiled room.  It settles down just as she whips the lid back up, back arching as she again vomits in the ceramic bowl.  Falling back to her knees, her hand is again pressed against the back of the toilet.

“Eunsook?” Kibum calls nervously as he pushes the door to his bedroom further open.

“Go rest, Kibum,” she replies weakly, voice gravelly and shaking in a way that is almost scary.

“You-” he begins.

“I’ll be fine,” she interrupts without looking back. “It is only-” Her back arches again as she retches into the open toilet.  This time he notices that her toes curl in response to the pain. Again, she falls back to her knees as the routine finishes its play: close lid, flush toilet, wait for the water to settle, prepare to vomit again.

Her hair is still bundled in the one hand and it is clear that she has been struggling to keep it back.  Without speaking, Kibum makes his way across the hall, steps awkward and hands braced against the walls.  When he reaches her, he struggles to bend down to take the strands from her hands into his own.

“Kibum-” she starts, voice even weaker than before.

“Let me fix your hair so that it will not be in your way,” he demands quietly as he begins to braid the wild ebony strands into one thick, simple flat braid.  Eunsook shivers as he twists the three bundles of hair.  He’s halfway done when her now-empty hand waves in the air as the only warning before her back arches again.  Now he’s near enough to smell as well as hear and he covers his nose with the back of one hand as she closes the lid and again there’s the sound of water whirling.

“Apologies,” she murmurs, falling again to her knees, resting her head on one arm while the other takes its familiar bracing stance. Kibum does not know how to answer so he continues to braid in silence: He is only just finished when she vomits again.

“There,” he says, “All done.”  It is trite but there is nothing more to be said about fixing his mate’s hair while she shakes with illness in his bathroom.

“Thank you,” she whispers.

“You’re cold,” he remarks, watching her continue to shiver.  “I’ll bring you socks and a blanket.  

Her head shakes slightly as she argues, “No, you should rest.”

Kibum looks at her on the floor and sighs. “No, I…need to care for my alpha,” he says, turning away.  “I’ll rest once I have done that.”

If she were someone he knew he would know how to take care of her.  As it is, he only knows the very basics of what to do when someone is sick and so he leaves before she can remark.  Every step aches as he slowly makes his way down the hall to the sofa where he pulls off the throw that lies across its arm.  The cupboards are searched and he quickly finds the aqua colored plastic bottle he had spotted when he was searching for a coffee mug their first morning together.  The spout is cold in his hand as he lifts it up, watching passively as the cool, clear water fills the bottle to its brim.  Then he heads back to his own room to retrieve a pair of his own socks to put over her feet, flinching when she retches just as he reaches his door. The socks, bottle, and blanket he takes to her in the bathing room, surprising himself when he tucks the socks on her feet with his own hands.  The blanket he rests over her shoulders and the bottle he places at her knees before standing up and staring at his own handiwork.  

“Thank you,” she whispers again, uncertain this time.  When she looks up, he sees that her eyes are bloodshot and her pupils dilated.  It’s as though she were in-between shifts and trapped in the symptoms.  “You should go rest, Kibum,” she murmurs.

“I will,” he replies softly.

“You should not be here for this.”  

He watches her, bundled up in a blanket with a tight braid woven by his own hands, his socks on her feet.  He watches a little longer before asking, “Did I do this to you?”

The bloodshot eyes and unnatural pupils grow wide and he flinches at how panicked she looks.

“No, of course not!  None of this is your fault.  Do not think that.  Now please, go rest.”  They watch each other a moment longer, questions on the tip of Kibum’s tongue that he is suddenly too tired to ask.  Wordlessly, he leaves her behind.

An audible sigh of relief blows through his lips as he tenderly sits down on the mattress of his bed.  Turning onto his side, he pulls the covers up to his shoulder, curling into a ball and holding his knees tightly to his chest.  It aches but it also soothes and he stares at the wall until he hears Eunsook retching again.  In the dimness of his bedroom, Kibum closes his eyes.

Another day passes before Kibum leaves his room. An early morning sun makes the beveled glass of the bathing room window glow as he steps across the hall onto the cold tiled floor.  He swallows heavily when he sees the mark Eunsook’s first bite left on his neck; mottled and still a little swollen, his body understanding that what happened was unnatural.  

Evidence of the second bite had already disappeared.  A mating bite was never meant to scar, instead, it provided an additional layer of scent for a bonded omega: Kibum already had Eunsook’s scent from her bond bite and now he had the scent of her rut as well.  There would be no question now that Kibum was a bonded omega, whether his bond mark was visible or his collar worn.  The first bite, however, served no purpose other than to stop his escape and its blackish blue sat in stark contrast to his warm skin.  At least it had not grown infected while he had slept.

Kibum draws a bath, watching from the tub’s edge as the level of the heated water grows higher and higher, the room filling quickly with steam.  He turns the knobs, halting the flow, and steps slowly into the water that is nearly too hot, settling carefully down beneath small, splashy waves.  Sighing, he closes his eyes and immerses fully, letting every inch of his body be covered before sitting up again, eyes blinking off warm droplets.  Muscles that were sore when he awoke after his heat loosen now within the warm confines of the bath.  Kibum rests his head against the edge, careful not to jar the wound at his neck, and does not think too heavily on what happens now that the equinox has passed.

~

“It has been four days, Kibum,” Eunsook says softly from the end of the hallway.  Kibum takes a startled step back.  “You have to leave.”

“I cannot put on my collar,” he says blandly. It is the truth.  The swelling has gone down, but the bruise on his neck is still too tender to cover with his collar.

Eunsook turns her head away in shame, her cheeks burning crimson.  “That is not what I meant.  And I have said that you do not need to wear your collar in the house, or even in the yard. It is only when we travel to town or to visit others that you must wear it.”

“Then I do not need to leave.  There is nowhere for me to go.”  As Eunsook looks up, Kibum closes the door.

~

The door creaks open in Kibum’s hand and he gasps when he sees Eunsook on the floor across the hall.  “You cannot stay in there,” she mumbles with her eyes closed. “The food is out here.”  Bent at an odd angle, her knees are pulled up to her chest and one arm lays straight over that other that is tucked beneath. Hair mussed, she’s in bed clothes and it looks as though she’s been there for a while.  He’s not sure that she’s even awake.

“I have been eating,” he replies indignantly, thinking of the scraps he had managed to sneak in the night when he thought Eunsook was asleep.  No longer, it appears.

“Let me make you a meal,” Eunsook says, her voice firmer than before.  Her eyes open and she looks up at him beseechingly.  “It has been eight days, Kibum.  You need to eat.”      

In the morning, Kibum flinches when Eunsook reaches across the table to place a jar of golden cubes in the center.  In the afternoon, it is when she passes near him in the kitchen as he slices crimson peppers for their lunch.  As the sun sets, it is when they are in the garden and she draws near to look at what he had been working on.  He turns away without ever seeing the pain in her eyes.

“I don’t know how to convince you that you do not have to be frightened of me,” she says quietly after their evening meal has finished and the plates sit in the metal cupboard.  At the table now cleared, Eunsook presses her palms together and links her fingers over them.  “I would do this for my friend when she would get afraid,” she says, her eyes on her fingers.  “I would do it to let her know that I would not do anything to hurt her.  When she was no longer afraid she would tap my fingers to let me know.”

Kibum looks at the alpha’s knuckles, a series of angles over great valleys on hands that have touched him naked but are still unfamiliar.  Looking up, he asks, “Did she often have reason to fear you?”

Eunsook’s eyes stay low and Kibum can see the flash of pain.  “Once,” she answers quietly.  There is no elaboration and he does not ask her to explain.  Instead, she takes a deep breath, her linked palms falling to her waist.  “I am going to my room now.  Good night.”

The chair slides against the floor and she’s half-standing when he abruptly asks, “Why did you chase me?  Why did you…bite me?”  Over a week had passed with neither of them speaking of what had happened during the equinox.  Kibum’s bruised neck was a screaming witness to Eunsook’s brutality, yet neither of them acknowledged it beyond Kibum’s stating that he could not wear his collar. He did not mean to mention it now, it simply stumbled over his tongue and out of his mouth.

Eunsook stood still so long that Kibum became concerned; her stillness and silence were too unfamiliar after such a question posed.

“You were running,” she says, as though it were an obvious answer.  Slowly she sits back down, her eyes rising to meet Kibum’s.  “Outside.  In heat.”

“Oh.”  In all that time it had not occurred to Kibum that Eunsook had been protecting him.  He flushes in shame and turns away.  

Misunderstanding, Eunsook softly adds, “I am so sorry for what happened, Kibum.”  When he makes no response, she continues, “I have not earned it yet, but I hope that you will trust me when I say that it will not be like that ever again.  The first heat is always frightening, but _only_ the first heat.  Every other is pleasant as long as the alpha is kind.  And I-” Her words break off and he looks up as she looks down, biting her lip and fidgeting with her hands.  “I will be kind.”  He watches her a few moments longer.   He trusts that _she_ _believes_ what she is saying.  He is not certain, however, that _he trusts_ what she is saying.

The morning finds him at the stove preparing their morning meal and greeting Eunsook with as much familiarity and warmth as he had before the equinox.  He tampers down each impulse to flinch until the impulse has vanished.  There are just under three months left until he will see Taemin again.  Until then, he knows he needs to learn to live with Eunsook.

 

~

 

Eunsook stares at the com tab and thinks.  It had taken two weeks but Kibum was now regularly leaving his room and eating with her again, the flinching every time she came near having slowly tapered off.  This had been the first full day that had been peaceful between them in all that time.  They had eaten morning meal together, spent time in the garden, Kibum had prepared afternoon meal while Eunsook read; they had even taken a brief stroll so that she could show him more of the land.  Out of the corner of her eye she had watched him and smiled as the light she had seen in his eyes when she had first shown him the garden and orchard flickered again under the autumn sun.

Now he sits in the main room looking through her collection of books and she in her office with her com tab thinking.  Kibum’s off-hand remark so many days ago, meant perhaps more to hurt her than anything, had been weighing on her mind ever since he said it: “I cannot wear my collar.”  As much as he seemed to enjoy the outdoors, she remembered how excited he had been to hear of omega shops, and how he had wept over his hair.

What she was about to do was not disallowed, yet it was not exactly encouraged either.  For many reasons.  Eunsook grimaces as she taps the com tab against her forehead, biting her lip. There was nowhere else she felt comfortable sending Kibum; he needed to go somewhere she knew he would be taken well care of.  Taken well care of by someone who would understand, at least in part, what he was going through.  

The chair rolls across the floor as Eunsook stands. Her feet pad against the floorboards as she makes her way down the hall to where Kibum now sits curled up in the purple chair with a book clutched in his hands.  She smiles in guarded delight to find him in the same seat he has been in each time she has found him in the main room alone.  He has claimed his own place, she thinks.

“Kibum.”  He looks up slowly, blinking in hazy recognition.  “If you are still unhappy with your hair, I can make you an appointment at an omega salon.  We could also go for a meal after if you would like.”  Kibum only blinks at her.  Eunsook begins to doubt her plan.  “You do not have to if you do not want to.  We could still-”

“I would,” Kibum interjects hastily.  “I only thought you said we could not, or I could not go until after the Time of Solitude.”  

Eunsook smiles.  “I misspoke.  There are certain things that are allowed during this time and visits to salons are among them.”  The words are jumbling now.  Truth is vital, but not all of it.  “Would you like me to make you an appointment?”  Kibum nods and Eunsook presses her palm to the com tab.  Only a few links will work, for now, just under three months of a blackout keeps her from contacting her sire, Jinki, or anyone else directly.  This, however, she can do for Kibum.  “There,” she says handing him the tablet.  “An appointment is ready for you for tomorrow.”  

Kibum’s nose crinkles as he frowns.  “Are they any good that you can make an appointment so quickly?”

Eunsook laughs as she takes the tab back, shaking her head.  “Are you always so judgmental?”  Kibum only shrugs.  Truthfully, she prefers the caustic remark to the gasps and flinches that dogged their interactions the last two weeks.   “They are very good.   The best omega salon I know of,” she says lightly, hoping for a laugh.  A half-hearted snort is her reward.  “Would you like to take the appointment?”

“Yes,” Kibum answers eagerly.  

Eunsook nods and places her hand on the screen, follows the instructions provided, and nods again when the appointment is verified. “Tomorrow evening, last appointment of the day.”

Kibum’s brows furrow.  “What should I wear?”

“Whatever’s comfortable.  It is an omega salon.  The purpose is to be comfortable, away from alphas and their leering gazes.”  She makes a show of narrowing her eyes and wiggling her fingers.

“Ah,” Kibum answers knowingly, nodding as he turns back to his book.  As she turns to leave she hears him gasp.  “Does that mean you will not be coming in with me?”  

Eunsook turns back with a laugh that quickly dies on her lips when she sees the look of alarm on Kibum’s face.  “I will be taking you there, but I will not be allowed inside the salon.”  Kneeling down, she smiles as encouragingly as she can.  “I will be waiting for you in the parking lot, as near to the door as I can be.  You can leave at any time.  No one will be mad.”

“I’ve never…”  Kibum takes a deep breath and Eunsook nods.

“There will be many firsts as a bonded omega. This is one of the easier ones.”

They make a stop on their way to the salon the next night.  Eunsook remembers Kibum’s panic at being locked out and she takes them to a shop to have his prints added to their home’s door.

The whirring of the grid beneath Eunsook’s palm has Kibum squeezing a fist with one hand at his waist and the tip of his thumb pressed to the bottom of his lip.  He’s off to the side and tucked into a corner in the tiny alcove where imprinting is done.  His eyes are on her hand while Eunsook chats with the manager, a heavy-set omega well into his fifties.

“Kibum.”

“Yes,” he answers as he quickly moves across the room to stand beside his mate.

“Mine is nearly done.  Are you ready?”  Her eyes are soft and her brows lifted when she asks.  He nods uncertainly and points at the grid that is slowly fading to black.

“I just put my hand on there?”

“That’s it,” she confirms as she raises her hand off the now-black glass and gestures for him to take her place.  The omega smiles encouragingly and waits for Kibum’s hand to settle against the pane before turning on the machine again.  He jumps but the man shows no sign that he’s noticed and Eunsook only hums beside him.

The conversation that had been held between the manager and his mate resumes as the grid continues to whirl beneath Kibum’s palm. A pale light that moves horizontally, vertically, and then diagonally over and over again.  The screen warms beneath his fingers and he watches until it burns his eyes and he has to turn away.

“Next one.”  He lifts his hand and rests the opposite one against the glass and blinks away the sparkle in his eyes as the process again begins.  

“All done,” the omega says cheerfully just as the machine whirs down.  He moves down the length of the short counter and bends to grab at something beneath the pale wood.  Kibum lifts his hand off the screen and he glances at his palm in wonderment before tucking it back at his side.  

The manager stands back up with a small black chip that he holds out to Eunsook.  “Here you go.  Imprinted with a scan of both of your hands.  Now you each can open the door no matter what the hour.”  He winks at Kibum who frowns even as his cheeks flush.

“How many prints can it hold?” Eunsook asks.  

The omega glances quizzically between them. “How many do you need?”  

She shakes her head.  “Another omega will be joining our household in July.  They will need to be able to enter their home.  Can I add them to this one or should I purchase a new one when they arrive?”

“It’s better business for me if you buy a new one,” he says with a wink, “but you can just add them to this one.”

“Excellent.  Thanks.” She takes the chip and tucks it into her pocket before patting the counter, waving as they exit the door.

“See you in July!” the omega calls from behind the counter.

 

Kibum looks over his shoulder at Eunsook who is already backing her truck up.  He taps his pocket where the tiny com tab she had handed him “in case it doesn’t work out” rests.  She had said it with an easy smile but it had made him nervous and he had tapped at his collar absently as he slipped the slim black device into his pocket.  Its light weight is just enough to create an imbalance that has his nerves on edge.  Perhaps, he thinks as his fingers stroke against his collar and his stomach tightens, it is the other way around.

Eunsook’s truck stops in a spot two rows down from where Kibum stands.  The windshield faces him and, though he can’t see her face, he breathes a little easier knowing where she is and that she is so near.  He takes a deep breath and turns, shakes his shoulders and pushes open the salon door.

The salon is simultaneously sharp and cozy.  Bright green plants contrast against stylish black leather chairs while hardwood floors gleam beneath paneled ceilings.  A bamboo rug softens the makeshift waiting room and assorted throws and decorative pillows in various shades of pink lend a hominess to the room that Kibum had not expected.

A blond omega is sweeping in a corner between a trio of hot pink leather seats with chrome attachments, wide mirrors with bright bulbs surrounding them hanging in front of the chairs and reflecting her every move.  Her blond hair shimmers in the lights and when she turns to smile at him Kibum notices that she wears no bonding collar.

“Hi!” she calls out.  “Welcome to Petite.  You must be Kibum.  Come on over.”  She gestures to the chair in the middle, tucking the broom away in a cupboard at the end of the row.  Kibum steps forward uncertainly, fingers curled into loose fists as he walks to where she has indicated.  The chair bounces lightly beneath him as he sits and when he looks into the mirror he is startled by how pale his reflection is, especially when the omega returns and in her own reflection her golden skin glows with warmth.

“I’m Junghee,” she says, eyes shining in the lights’ reflection.  “I am so happy to meet you.”  

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this took forever! the equinox scene was really hard for me to write so, on top of health & weather, that made this chapter a struggle.  
> thank you all for your patience & comments!  
> p.s. i listened to "rise" easily a hundred times writing this chapter.


	9. Hiatus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Indeterminate. Hopefully, I'll be posting again in May.

Thanks for reading.

**Author's Note:**

> This is an on-going fic & I have no idea when it will be concluded. Let's hope it is within the year, yes?


End file.
